Ascension
by SmileysBasis2
Summary: When a mysterious enemy reaches dangerously across dimensions to acquire the Ginzuishou, Minako, Ami, Makoto, and Rei are dispatched to Karakura Town to save their world and their princess. But when their powers strangely disappear and Usagi has visions of their deaths they must work with Team Karakura to destroy their foe-whose twisted end game may not be what it seems.
1. The Dimensional Web

**Ascension**

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this story.

The reddish-orange patterns stained to Makoto's wrist, hand and fingers created a sort of disillusioned wonderland of swirls, curls and dips for the bored girl. As of late she'd been highly uninterested in the fractious meetings continually held at Rei's shrine. The persistent bickering from her closest friends and the inimical remarks spewed from the Outer Senshi's mouths only encouraged more fighting and less resolve. Usually she'd be the most effusive one battling against Haruka's sharp tongue or Michiru's staid yet cold comments. However one day, when she received an especially harsh lashing from Setsuna's eloquence versus her passionate but less articulate words, her inputs faded into the background and she let Rei's fiery temper and Minako's continuous berating fuel the conversations.

She pulled subconsciously at her khaki shorts, only now aware of how much of her legs they really showed. She liked them but they were small, too small. Clicking her tongue in shame that she'd have to get rid of such a cute pair of shorts, Makoto turned her unenthusiastic gaze back to her hand. She imagined a tiny stick man riding a stick horse over the lumps and twists generated by her henna tattoo.

Her ears perked as she heard a comment aimed in her direction but chose to ignore it and continue on with her little fantasy. She'd call it 'The Heroic Adventures of Kiki'. Yeah, that'd be it. It wouldn't even be a guy on the horse it would be a girl. A young heroine fighting for the freedoms, justices, and liberties of women all around the world against the patriarchal background of an ancient Japanese society! Kiki, the lone rider. A smile came easily. The three silver rings on her fingers would be the three castles dominated by the evil Japanese emperors; the biggest one on her middle finger would be Kiki's final destination…

_I should be a novelist_, Makoto thought as she propped her head up on a perched palm and fixed her tank top's black strap from hanging off her shoulder to resting securely on it. _Or at least a children's book writer_, her thoughts continued as she looked out of a nearby window.

Her thoughts about Kiki's ride on grasses as green as the ones outside Rei's temple came to a halt when the voices inside the room rose to such a level that it was almost impossible to ignore. Refusing to turn her head from the outdoors, Makoto instead shifted her eyes towards the three standing Senshi. Rei and Haruka were in each other's faces again and Usagi stood between them with a worried frown.

"Will you all just be quiet, please?" she demanded. Her voice wavered and Makoto knew the two would stop yelling. Out of all of the Senshi, Haruka and Rei were most protective of Usagi and subsequently most effected by her emotions. Their princess's voice was stern despite the shake to her tone. The purity of her intentions showed clearly on her face and the Senshi of the future queen silenced themselves. All eyes turned to her as if expecting some sort of compensating speech, something that would calm their nerves and put each one of them back on hot headed but level terms. The quiet that ensued, however, was uncharacteristic and set Makoto on edge. As of this moment she was nonplussed and it was evident that within the group she was not the only one. It was an uncomfortable feeling shared by them all. Everyone's eyes stayed glued to Usagi as if fearing one shift might cause the newly formed balance to crack.

At the current moment, being the Senshi least invested in the conversation, Makoto was the first to turn her eyes away from her distraught princess and back to the window. More daydreams about Kiki commenced. The tension that had built up between them was climbing to a nearly unbearable high. What frustrated Makoto was the reason behind their stress: A new enemy. There was a dichotomy in her feelings about it. First, she just wanted to punch a wall because they'd faced years of this trash and everyone was tweaking over one guy. Second, she understood why everyone was tweaking because she felt it too…Usagi was perturbed on a different level. This wasn't dreams and colorful aliens. It was something far more sinister, not dark and haunting but deceptive and deadly. This is why she hated the meetings. Talking was useless…training was not.

"Just… please." Even Usagi, now, was at a loss for words. The continuous debates and squabbles were getting to the most optimistic of the entire collaboration, as she could see Ami's face flushed with frustration as well. While the princess's feckless plea went in one of Makoto's ear and out the other, the other Senshi grappled with an effect. Stress grasped at their chests like a caffeine overload.

Senshi business was becoming tiresome. It was becoming tiresome, pitiful, harmful, distracting and the direct antithesis of what the Senshi of Jupiter had once thought of it as. She was becoming _bored_ with her duty, _bored_ with her friends, and_ bored_ with this destined life she was supposed to lead. "Stupid," she mumbled beneath her breath, more to herself than for anybody else to hear. Makoto felt her ears and face burn with redness as there was a shift in the room, all eyes turning to her. Perhaps she should have been paying attention…lost in her musings she'd forgotten about the nearly deafening silence that hung in the room.

Usagi tilted her head to the side. "What did you say, Mako-chan?"

Makoto turned her head even farther away from the group in an attempt to hide her embarrassment. "Nothing," she recovered, waving a hand in their direction, "just me not paying attention."

"Your attention," Haruka began, and Makoto could tell she was trying her best to lay rest to the callousness in her voice, "should be directed towards this meeting, not towards whatever's distracting you."

The brunette knew that Haruka was trying to be as calm and polite as she could, given the circumstances, but Makoto could hardly restrain her cavalier remark before she turned back towards the window with her peerless gaze. "Oh. I was unaware we'd made any progress."

Before Haruka could respond, there was a shifting from the floor as Ami readjusted her position and cleared her throat. She touched the bridge of her glasses farther up her nose, a known trait of the bluenette when she had something to say. Pushing her hair behind her ear in a discreet fashion, she folded her legs under her butt and clasped her hands within her lap. "You guys, enough is enough," she said, making eye contact with Rei, Haruka, and Usagi. "Relax for a moment." When Haruka simply raised an eyebrow to her, Ami's look became grave. "Please," she said. She was not asking.

The firm emphasis behind her words was enough to get the three Senshi standing to slowly take their seats as silence ensued again. Ami continued. "These vicissitudes are clouding our judgments and beliefs in one another and what we stand for. We were once all about team work…and now we brazenly degrade each other with deleterious remarks."

"Dele…what?" Usagi blushed. She wasn't quite sure what Ami was saying…

Ami couldn't hold back the tiny smirk that graced her lips. Usagi was, in a word, adorable. "What I'm trying to say Usagi-chan is that we're acting like children, calling each other names and dissing each other. The immaturity is poisonous and as a result it's goading us down roads we don't want to and don't have to take." Ami shrugged her shoulders. "Like, have we fallen so far that our ideals and morals have become buffeted by our craven worries? We're Senshi for god sakes." One look to Usagi and Ami could tell she wasn't quite following. She sighed and looked to the ceiling briefly. Intelligence was such a gift and a curse.

"We're making fatuous—" she hesitated, glancing towards Minako who had a look of intense concentration in her eyes, same as Usagi, "…I mean, silly mistakes." She couldn't really tell how her speech was weathered from the blank looks that peered in her direction. Her calm disposition faltered and in a moment of unbridled frustration Ami flicked her wrist and allowed her blue wand to materialize, slamming it down on the wooden floor before. The loud slap of metal on wood was much louder than she'd intended, shaking her from her moment of anger like a hypnotist waking the hypnotized. "Grow up," she said heavily. "It's been months. I'm not going to sit here and be talked over," Michiru looked down, knowing she'd done that multiple times, "be told to shut up," Rei blushed, knowing that in the heat of the moment she'd dropped that remark, "be told my input doesn't matter, be called weak," Haruka looked away and crossed her arms, knowing she'd been rude in telling Ami 'what would the weakest Senshi know about' this or that. She truly felt sorry.

"I can't help then to officially offer to abjure my position as Sailor Mercury."

The eyes of each Senshi widened in both surprise and fear at Ami's bold statement. "Ami, no," Usagi pleaded. Standing from her seat she padded over to the blue haired Senshi and took one of her hands in her own. "Please, don't."

Ami lightly, and politely, took her hand back from her princess and held it up, as if to say, 'let me finish'.

"If we decide to grow up," she continued, turning her eyes from Usagi and looking at each and every one of her supposed comrades, "then I say we find some rational and pragmatic solution _around_ this debacle, not over it or through it." Her lips pursed. "The bonds between us have been dissipating, I know you all have felt it," she said grimly, "and the reasons stemming from this weakening are pitiful and ridiculous. We're supposed to be warriors of truth and justice who uphold some sense of honor, respect, and trust, yet we've betrayed each and every one of these."

Her face became flushed with emotion and Ami swallowed her irritation. "The way we treat each other is getting to be unbearable and if giving up the one thing that's truly ever made me feel useful, powerful, or sanguine will solve this situation then so be it. I'm not the diffident girl I used to be, but if I need to revert back to her to escape this pathetic display of teamwork, then so be it. If I am the only one with the audacity to calmly and graciously state my disposition, then so be it." The even severity with which she spoke sliced through the silence. Haruka raised an eyebrow. Perhaps she really didn't know the once perceived mousy girl very well.

"This group, then, of so called warriors for truth and justice is more pathetic than I thought, and I am extremely abashed to be a part of it or affiliated with it. So make your decision now, because I'm making mine." Ami looked down and realized her fists had been clenched so intensely that her knuckles had turned to spokes of white. Slowly she released them, feeling her nails slowly separate from the indentations they'd made in her palms. Taking a deep breath she spoke again. "Either exercise the rights and powers we've been given for the correct use, with the correct intents, as either _friends_ or _associates_, or desecrate such a blessing with continuing this pitiable display of egos and destroy something so precious that we've so graciously been given."

Ami was very aware of all of the eyes on her. She was very aware that their thoughts were probably muddied with different levels of appreciation and annoyance at her move to excite change with desperation. Her air of confidence seemed to diminish slightly but she knew that she'd planted that seed, and Ami knew that Usagi would make it flourish. Ami wished dearly that someone would say something.

Her entire speech had been extemporized; she'd hardly planned on officially offering to renounce her position as Sailor Mercury. It was just something about all of the fighting that had crept under her skin and fed words to her mouth. She was done, she was over, she was through. What had happened to composure? They were acting like kids. And Ami was no kid.

She looked up, trying to wipe the look of discomfort from her face as she made eye contact with Usagi. She could see the newfound resect that resided there and swallowed.

Usagi slowly smiled. She'd always known that Ami's acknowledged trait was her smarts, that was obvious with her unbelievably high scores and adamant studies, but to personally be on the receiving end of such a demonstration of pure and utter command of words gave the princess goose bumps. For some reason she felt so…_beneath_ the blue haired Senshi.

Taking Ami's hand again, Usagi looked into her eyes with a sort of determination. "Ami-chan," she said softly, so as to gently break the air of silence, "I solemnly swear to exercise my powers only for good and for anything that tries to do harm to this planet." She grinned, giving Ami's hand a sort of pat. "This is who I am, this is what I do. This is what _we_ do, and we're all a family." She got a sort of lopsided, silly grin on her face as she continued. "We may just be in the family reunion stages," she started counting things off of her fingers, "we haven't seen each other in awhile, we're learning new things about each other, we just don't agree with each other on certain terms…" Ami's face slowly began to melt from the stone cold façade of bravery she'd maintained before and Usagi felt relieved. "I can't quite use all of those big words like you, but I can say it in a sort of dumbed down version."

Ami could hardly restrain her smile as she looked towards the wooden floor of Rei's temple. Usagi just knew how to turn a situation around, she was the light of their lives, the light of this entire universe. In relation to any sort of perverse being Usagi stood out as an angel, a beacon of hope amongst wickedness and, in this case, the glue that kept their so-called team together. Ami figured this only because she saw how Haruka's eyes softened at the sight of her giggling princess and Michiru's frown transformed into a small smirk. Minako was beaming and Rei… well, Rei just didn't look so angry anymore.

The brainiac grinned, putting her free hand atop Usagi's hands grasping hers. "Family," was her single worded commitment as she and her princess held eye contact. Ami was her first Senshi, and Usagi couldn't help but feel a sort of deeper understanding coming from the blue haired girl, such an affinity was hard to break.

"Family," Usagi responded.

The gentle scene was broken up as Setsuna pushed herself from the wall she'd been leaning against and stood now in the center light of the room. "While it's good that we've now recognized we're some sort of established team," she said in her quiet, yet demanding voice, "I suggest we entertain ourselves with answers to the problem at hand."

Her remark was quiet yet peremptory and caused even Makoto to turn her eyes back towards the group in a certain determination. Setsuna's efficacy over the rest of the Senshi caused Usagi to shiver and, momentarily, question her position as a head over her friends.

Usagi reached out and grasped Ami's wand in her own hands, feeling slightly strange at the odd power that pulsed through her body. Goosebumps rose to her flesh for the second time as she handed it to the girl beside her. "Right," she said. "Now, there will be no need for walking out on this group," she stated, "We're all in this together here, and we need each other. So you three," she pointed to the older Senshi sitting opposite her and her Inner court, "No more hints of separation."

Reluctantly Michiru nodded and Haruka slowly followed suit, though her expression held more of a halfhearted acceptance.

Setsuna's stern voice filled the room once again. "If our recommendations of separation are now null and void then we must work together." Sitting down, the Time Keeper crossed her legs as well as her arms. "However, having eight people, assuming Mamoru-san is considered into this equation, following you around all day may seem a bit suspicious."

Usagi frowned and opened her mouth to respond but paused when she heard Rei's smooth voice interject.

"I understand what you mean, Setsuna, however I don't necessarily think we need to be around each other twenty-four seven." She crossed a finger over her chin. "School will have to be our time apart. If the enemy strikes during those hours then we'll have to rely on Ami, Minako, and Makoto, but for the time being I think we can handle ourselves. I'm by myself at T.A.," she pointed to the Inners, "You all are at Juuban, and you three," she pointed to the Outers, "have jobs."

"Concerning after school," Ami picked up, the discomfiture from her speech slowly waning from her voice, "I suggest we meet in a variety of places at different times. I believe it is imperative that we're together in our free time, no matter how suspicious."

Haruka shook her head, blonde flakes of hair falling into her eyes. "I'd have to disagree," she announced. "They already know who Usagi is. If we follow her around in every moment of our spare time then all of our identities would be revealed. Then how effective would we be?"

Minako frowned, the deep lines uncharacteristic on her face. She was addled. "So then are you saying that we should just," she waved her arm dramatically over Usagi's head, "_leave_ her all by herself for the taking?"

Haruka's frown matched Minako's in an instant. "That's hardly what I'm saying," she said in requital, voice rising. "I'm just trying to elaborate on the fact that we'll be ineffective as a _team_ if we serve our identities to them on a silver platter!"

To avoid more problems, Michiru put her hand on Haruka's shoulder. "Calm down, love."

With a frustrated sigh, Haruka roughly shoved her fingers through her hair in an attempt to soothe her nerves. "I'm not trying to be a separatist here," she began, trying a different approach, "but I'm trying to be rational. Usagi," the young blonde looked up at the mention of her name, "can we try to delve into what these people were trying to say to you? You said they first showed up in a dream, correct?"

"Right," Usagi nodded. "I remember that he had slicked back hair, brown I think. And his eyes," she bit her lip with a sort of staid expression that was unbecoming of the Usagi they saw every day, "they held such a cool confidence and power that the answers he demanded were almost impossible to deny—"

"—Wait," Michiru interrupted, halting the next words on Usagi's tongue. All eyes turned to the water Senshi as her usually kind gaze turned skeptic in a flash. "You never said anything about questions or answers, Usagi-chan," she quietly pronounced, gripping her skirt with her free hand in anticipation.

Usagi immediately blushed. Oh goodness. She'd made a mistake. She felt little gentility in Michiru's voice and almost immediately became shamed of her ignominy. Her stomach clenched in sudden fear. She'd forgotten. She'd completely and totally forgotten about his demands until this very moment.

"Umm… I didn't?" she questioned even though she knew the answer. She turned her gaze immediately to the wooden floor in a sort of accepting expectancy of harsh comments on her stupidity. What she'd anticipated came, but it wasn't so cruel or unsympathetic.

"Usagi-chan…" came Rei's worried voice from above her on a chair. The blonde closed her eyes, ready for some sort of verbal torture from her friend and was truly surprised when she felt a hand placed on top of her head. "What sort of things did he ask?"

The blonde blinked, only slowly recovering from her expectation of rude comments. "Uh-um…" she stammered, not able to immediately find her words. "Well, at first he just asked me how many of us there were."

"And did you tell him?"

"I felt inclined to," she responded.

Rei's hand never left her head, and Usagi never turned around to face the Miko. "What else did he ask you?"

Usagi bit her lip and chewed it. "Well…" she mumbled. "He asked a lot about how good my grades were."

Rei blinked uncharacteristically in a sort of stupidity.

The room fell silent.

Minako cleared her throat. "Y… Your grades?"

"Yeah."

Ami looked confused. "No offence Usagi-chan, but why on earth would he want to know about your grades? They aren't even that good." The ice princess could hardly believe that a new enemy would tackle such an issue. A strange image popped into her head of a dark man questioning Usagi like a therapist; _And how are your grades, Usagi-san? Do you do well in school?_ For some reason the sight irked her.

Usagi frowned. "I resent that!" she called out. "I may not be an A student but at least I've pulled it up to the C, B- range," she pouted, sticking out her lower lip in an over dramatized display of hurt.

Rei rolled her eyes. "Focus, odango-atama, focus," she tried, only to be the recipient of a quiet comeback of 'I'm focusing, I'm focusing you question Nazi'. Giving a glare, the longhaired youth decided to ignore the annoying comment. "Why would he question you about your grades?"

Giving a sigh, Usagi pulled her legs to her chest and rested her chin in the crevice of her knees. "Like I'm supposed to know. Maybe he was trying to butter me up or something. He kept asking me about you guys, actually. Especially you, Rei."

"Me?" Rei asked in surprise.

"Yeah, he seemed really interested in you. Definitely probing at the fact that you're a Miko. Maybe he had some sort of fetish…"

It was hard for Rei to ignore this comment when Minako burst into giggles. "So are you saying that this new enemy is hitting on Rei?" she asked, only sending herself into another wave of giggles. "How rich. He doesn't even know her! Wait until he sees her temper." Minako's grin was feral as Rei whipped her head around quickly.

"Hey, Minako."

"Yeah?"

"Shut the hell up."

"Oo, touchy."

Haruka had had it. "Enough," she interjected, cutting off Rei's retort to the bubbly blonde. Turning her head slowly from the squabbling teens and back towards her grinning princess, she asked, "What sort of other questions did he ask?"

Usagi scratched her eye and yawned. "Well, he also really wanted to know about the Ginzuishou—"

Setsuna's eyes snapped up. "How much did you tell him?"

Usagi blinked fiercely at her quick interruption. An odd feeling coursed through her body and the young blonde felt that she'd performed wrong in her attempt to be witty and enigmatic with their new opposition. With Setsuna's comment the entire room fell into a sort of sedated quietness. The anxiety in her voice lead to the belief that there was something that she knew but wasn't telling them.

Usagi frowned and timidly responded to the intimidating woman. "Well, not much, seeing as how I don't really know much about it myself."

The Time Keeper nodded, leaning forward as if she were now on to something. "Did he ask any more about any of us?"

Usagi put a hand to her head and scratched. "Well now that you mention it yeah, he was kind of adamant on getting information on Ami-chan, Mina-chan, and Mako-chan too."

Ami's ears perked up and she frowned. One name in that sentence had been uncharacteristically quiet during this meeting. "Speaking of Mako-chan… "

All eyes turned with Ami's towards the table where Makoto sat. Her head was placed awkwardly in the tangled basket her arms created and her breathing was smooth and slow. It was relatively evident that she was asleep.

A cloud of tension built in the room as Haruka skeptically eyed Makoto's sleeping form. She'd looked tired when she came into the meeting, but sleeping during such an important gathering was agonizingly unacceptable. "Are you serious?" the shorthaired blonde announced loudly, almost as if she were trying to wake up the slumbering Senshi of Jupiter.

"Don't wake her."

The comment was expected to come from Usagi's mouth, but it was dually unexpected to come from Setsuna. Haruka's brows furrowed and she stared at her comrade in a sense of betrayal. Setsuna did not look back at her but Haruka knew that the Time Keeper was able to sense her confused eyes burning into her. The fact that she didn't look back struck something within Haruka. The bleak illusion that Setsuna would do anything to harm the Senshi as a whole drained the thoughts of unfaithfulness to the Outer Senshi from her mind. There was so much Haruka wanted to ask.

"For what I am about to tell you it is not imperative that she be awake."

Once again, the depth of knowledge that Setsuna exuded caused each and every Senshi to heed her orders. It was almost as if it were an automatic reaction when the Setsuna said anything that the Senshi would almost instantaneously become obsequious to her every word. In some cases it irked Haruka that one Senshi could hold such power over the others, but the fact of the matter was that almost every statement Setsuna made in occasions such as this were pithy. Almost always her suggestions were incontrovertible thus she, and the other Senshi, refrained from waking Makoto.

Ami seemed perplexed by the Time Senshi's ominous remark but refused to question her and waited for the explanation to ensue.

"Before you ask, I'd like to explain that I didn't evince any of this because of the simple fact that I was not sure it was our problem, I could not say with certainty that this problem correlated with what I've seen." Setsuna folded her hands. "But now that Usagi has revealed that he's asking pointed questions about us, it's clear that our Time has been meddled with numerous times to the extent that he would know who we are. We're dealing with a whole new level here," Setsuna began, face imbued with controlled worry. "This might be confusing at first, so I'll go slow," she said, flicking a strand of long green hair over her shoulder. "However, I will not repeat myself." The room grew quiet and grim as Setsuna began.

"My duty is to guard the Gates of Time where, if in possession of a key, one is allowed to travel through time. While you've traveled through these gates, there are things about the vast internal structures of it that you haven't, and never will, experience." She placed her hands under her chin. "This is really not allowed, but considering the circumstances I have no choice.

"There is an area inside of the gates called A-47 where all of the times of different places within our world are intertwined."

Rei's eyes flashed to the green haired Senshi. "Our world?"

Setsuna did not look up from the wooden floor and did not acknowledge Rei, however the Senshi stared at her now in both concern and disbelief.

"Next to area A-47 is area C-76. Area C-76 is where the Times of different worlds, different dimensions, are intertwined. Each Time is connected in someway with another dimension and it's also part of my job to make sure that those connections don't falter. A sort of translucent string represents each Time, and absolutely none of them touch. If this were to happen for more than 3 days then the two dimensions would eventually merge and become one." Setsuna paused for this to sink in. "If they briefly touch one may go from one dimension to the other. If they touch for longer than that, the merge is slow and destructive.

"I am not the only Keeper of Time. I look over our dimension and make sure that things like the Black Moon do not happen. Together, with the help of many other people, I also help to prevent the merging or interference of different dimensions. The other Time Keepers and I never associate with each other, and we never meet because our dimensional webs are located in our own dimensions. It was your mother, Usagi, who taught me all of this."

Usagi nodded, however the information coming from Setsuna hardly met with normality in her brain. Other dimensions? Like, there could be a place filled with rainbows and butterflies, and happy people…or uh, happy other beings?

The Time Senshi's eyes became hard now and she clenched her fist. "I thought I felt something last month and went back to the gates to check on area A-47. There was nothing wrong so I proceeded to area C-76, where our line and another line were too close for comfort. If I had not known better I would have said that they were touching. Our line, however, was still placed correctly in the dimensional web, but the other was not. This means that somebody in that dimension was strong enough to tamper with our dimension and I believe, Usagi, that it was the man in your dream."

"Are you saying that the Ginzuishou is so powerful that enemies from other _dimensions_ are trying to take it from us?" Michiru asked, perplexed beyond all belief as to how such a thing could happen.

Setsuna's nod was curt. "Yes."

Minako stared skeptically at Setsuna as the rest of the Senshi started to mull about. Her brain was just beginning to come to grips with this outrageous assertion but there were too many questions unanswered, too many questions that she now believed could not be answered by Setsuna. "And how does Mako-chan know all of this already?"

The room stilled and fell silent and Setsuna finally turned her attention to somebody. She acknowledged the blonde's perceptiveness. She'd never said that she'd already told Makoto but Minako was secretly incredibly insightful. After all, she was not the leader of the Inner Senshi for no reason. "We've had troubles with this timeline interfering with ours before. Somebody there seems unyielding in their efforts to obtain the Ginzuishou. Twelve years ago the lines briefly touched."

Ami's look startled. "What happened?"

"It was enough to allow something through. Four monsters appeared: One in Ontario, Canada, one in Canberra, Australia, one in Paris, France, and the last was here, in Tokyo. I managed to exterminate them all with as little damage as I possibly could, however there were casualties. Two of them were her parents."

Usagi placed a hand to her mouth in surprise and Rei's expression became grimmer. The dark haired Miko now knew what Setsuna was getting at. She'd already told Makoto about area C-76 and about the time lines because Makoto had seen the monster herself.

"One; I've already told her and two; she's not really asleep."

Minako blinked. "Say what?" she asked as she got up and walked cautiously over to Makoto. Leaning over the brunette's shoulder she was confronted with a sheepish smile. Frowning, Minako slapped the girl's shoulder in both mock and true anger. "You're unbelievable," she growled, trying to hide the smirk edging at her lips.

"Sorry," was Makoto's only response.

Rei couldn't help but feel importunate anger bubble in the pit of her stomach as she stared at Makoto, a fire lighting her stare with a burn Makoto nearly tangibly felt. The attitude of the Senshi of Jupiter had been rather mercurial as of late and it annoyed Rei to no end seeing as how they were in the middle of a plight. She'd become flighty and boring and rarely paid attention to their meetings anymore, which were an integral part of the Senshi relationship. She'd have confronted her by now but Rei knew that Makoto was as obstreperous when it came to control as she was. "Why were you faking sleep, Mako-chan?" she asked.

Makoto ostentatiously yawned. "I was tired so I put my head down."

Rei stood up so fast that her chair toppled for a few moments, leaning precariously on its legs. The dam holding back her fury snapped. "Why have you been so cavalier lately?" she questioned, body rigid with anger. "We're in the middle of one of the most dangerous situations we've ever been met with, and you're trying to separate yourself from the group! You've been immature Makoto."

Usagi stood and placed a hand on her shoulder trying to placate the infuriated Senshi's temper. "Rei-chan, please calm down," she pleaded.

Minako looked back and forth between the feuding Senshi and saw that Rei's guileless outburst was provoking anger in Makoto as well.

"What, was that some euphemism for bitch, Rei?" Makoto bit back.

"I swear to god, Makoto—," Rei began, taking a step towards the girl before Ami stepped in front of her and put a firm hand to her chest and the other to Makoto's forehead, who'd stood at Rei's advancement.

"You two can't be serious right now!" she exclaimed, embarrassed for them. "Did we not just have this discussion? BOTH of you are being immature and both of you are being a bitch. We need helpful and mature people to handle this situation. So if you will, please sit down and shut your mouths so we can continue with figuring out what the hell we're going to do if our world is consumed by another!" With an exasperated huff, Ami gave each of them a shove as she sat back down in her spot and folded her hands. "Now Setsuna," she continued, ignoring those who were staring at her, "what do you suppose we do about this problem?"

Setsuna's visage went from temporarily stunned at Ami's interference with the two Inner Senshi, to stoic in a matter of seconds. "There's only one solution," she provided quietly, earning the attention of her audience once more. She eyed each of the girls before her and idly wondered if they were prepared for the caliber of this mission.

"And that would be?" Michiru asked, gripping Haruka's hand in anticipation.

Setsuna let loose a heavy sigh. "The only way to prevent such a problem would be to confront it ourselves."

"Which means?" Rei asked, though the answer was already firmly imbedded in her mind.

"We must enter the alternate dimension to eradicate the dilemma."

* * *

There'd been a long stretch of fighting between the Senshi as to whether or not Usagi should enter the alternate dimension. Eventually it was decided that she wouldn't, and would stay behind instead with Haruka, Michiru, and the budding Hotaru to protect her. This left the Inner Senshi to tackle what they called 'the issue abroad'.

"I can only take you into the gates, like I did when you traveled to the future," Setsuna began. "Queen Serenity told me that if in dire need, the safest way to enter would be from inside of the gates. Go left," she instructed, "instead of going forwards like to the future." She stared hard at the four Senshi entering the dimension.

"Hold hands tight and do not let go," she demanded, emphasizing this harshly. "Unlike going to the future, I will have absolutely no way of finding you, you could be lost in another world." She watched as they fidgeted nervously but had no sympathy for them. "When I bring the strings together you will see an opening. Enter it as quickly as possible," she said, then reiterated, "as _quickly_ as possible. If the opening is left awake for too long then it could cause a tear in the dimensional walls and make it easier for this enemy to reach Usagi-chan, and even announce your presence in the world."

Each of the Inner Senshi, fully transformed, nodded and pulled on their backpacks, filled with basic fundamentals. They had no idea what they faced but being moderately prepared for anything was better than going in blind. "When you get there, the rest is up to you. Communication will be sparse, and most likely through dreams, seeing as how I am not physically allowed to enter another Time Keeper's domain. Understood?"

They nodded.

"Good. Then let's go."

Goodbyes had already been said and only hello's waited for them in the future.

Venus stood holding Mars's and Jupiter's hands as Setsuna thrust her staff in the air and called for the gates to open. She wished she would have said goodbye to her mother or Artemis, or even a bigger goodbye to Usagi as she recalled what Setsuna told her earlier.

"_Don't die, Minako,"_ she'd said, _"if you die in another dimension I'm not sure the Ginzuishou will be able to bring you back."_ She'd been amazed that Setsuna had disclosed this information to her and her alone, when the Time Senshi had continued. _"Spread the word to the others when you reach your destination, but do not tell anyone else. It could spur unnecessary things."_ And she hadn't. Only now she wished she had.

Before she knew it, Venus was inside of the gates, the ferocious winds buffeting her face as she gripped Mars's and Jupiter's hands tighter. _Left_, she remembered and steered her friends in the correct way. On the path they almost lost Mercury twice, but held onto the smaller girl before seeing a small white opening.

"Quick!" Venus called fearing her voice was lost in the wind but pulling her friends as hard as she could towards the light. They stepped through and the winds disappeared, the hole behind them closing and enveloping them in a white cloud of nothingness.

It was impossible to breathe. The pressure was so unbelievable that Venus tore her hands from Mars and Jupiter to grip at her throat in terror. Her body felt like it was caving in and she crumpled in on herself at the lack of oxygen. Venus looked down through teary eyes to see Mars, Mercury and Jupiter in a similar situation, although Mars and Mercury were still connected by their hands.

_Hold hands tight and do not let go._

Venus's eyes widened and gripped Mars's hand tight as her and Mercury's dissention began. She could see that they'd made it to the alternate dimension as the cutouts of a city formed beneath them. She reached out her left hand to grip Jupiter's but the girl was nowhere in sight. At this she panicked and looked up, seeing that she was falling slower than them due to the heaviness of three people versus one.

She couldn't hear anything as the wind rushed around her ears. Jupiter's helpless cries were lost and all Venus could remember was one of her best friend's pleas as she drifted away from them.

_Please find me…_

She made a pact with herself and vowed to find her. They were already in the dimension and near their destination, which meant that Jupiter would not be lost in another world or on the opposite side of this one. _I'll find you_, she mouthed back tiredly, and the last thing she remembered was Jupiter's smile of thanks before she drifted into unconsciousness.


	2. The Descent

A/N: Hello all! I'd just like to do some house cleaning and explain what going on here as briefly as I can. I am originally SmileysBasis. Feel free to go ahead and check out my other stories at that penname, most of which I will be editing and continuing. I'll be writing them under this penname because I cannot access my other one (stupid ).

If you could, I would urge you to review so I know whether or not I should further edit and continue these stories or whether no one really cares anymore lol. I feel like my fandom is clinging on for dear life :( Hopefully ya'll feel as invigorated as I do so I can keep updating these!

**Sadekuuro:** I really appreciate your review! I glad someone out there still recalls (albeit vaguely) my stories. I'm glad you liked the update, it was definitely a factor in me continuing to update with this next chapter. Thanks for your support!

* * *

**Ascension**

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters.

Chapter Two: The descent

It was like being devoid of feeling. Eyes sewn shut in what seemed like eternal blindness, Rei could not see a thing. Her arms were wound tight around her legs, pulling them tightly to her chest in a forced fetal position. She was encased in a sort of thick fluid; it flowed through her body, her lungs, her eyes, and the very blood in her veins. It was her life support.

The only thing she could think of to name the slick substance was _embryonic._ She succumbed to its nourishments and felt it grow warm with motherly affection. Before she could fully absorb the balmy care, the case began to drain. It pulled her to the bottom in a slow suction action and drew her to the unseen floor.

The warmness of the case imbued with _embryonic_ fluid flowed out and in gusted a cooler, lighter air. Once the case had reached equilibrium Rei could move her limbs, twitch, grasp some of the thick, gooey substance in her fingers. Her body lurched, now devoid of being surrounded by a care-giving sustenance and the fluid oozed from her nose and mouth.

She pushed herself up and heaved, fluid mixed with vomit pooling before her unseeing eyes and onto her splayed fingers. It dripped leisurely from her nose like a child with a cold and eventually the seal on her eyes began to dissolve. Rei, however, waited to open them. Her naked body shivered, _embryonic_ fluid still coating her in a light sheen, as her clouded mind began to clear the fog.

_It was…_

Her lungs caved as a pressure built in her chest, momentarily putting her ability to breathe on hiatus. Her body jerked with the necessity for oxygen, begging for a breath. That yearning was lost, however, when a heat enveloped her body, not outside, but inside. It bubbled and flowed within her, pushing all desire for air aside. It felt like power, raw and unearthly power…

_Rebirth._

"Rei!"

Rei gasped for her life, the level of her intake so drastic and deep that she sounded like a woman trying to take in all of her surrounding oxygen. The inhale was so extreme that her body lurched forward into a sitting position from the ground she'd been lying on. Heavily she breathed, shoulders bobbing up and down and up and down as she tried to catch her breath. Her eyes darted around like a petrified child, brow alive with sweat and dilated pupils analyzing her surroundings and searching for her comrades. It didn't take them long to settle on Ami and then on Minako, both watching her with worried expressions, cautious of her movements. Rei's body relaxed a bit, her tense back unclenching as she placed a hand to her forehead in bated nervousness. "What happened," she asked, brow creasing at the raspy weakness in her voice. She pulled her hand away from her forehead and it came back sticky with sweat, slightly trembling. Her chest burned, hot with an unknown force.

"You weren't breathing," Ami said worriedly, absentmindedly picking at a few blades of grass that tickled the tips of her fingers. She let them flutter to the ground before wiping her hands on her knees. "I woke up the same way, as did Minako."

Rei continued to pant, her head beginning to zing with a dull ache. She tried to regain some sense of balance but failed miserably to do so. The world around her spun, Ami and Minako's silhouettes twisting and melding into each other in a wheel of indiscernible colors. It was impossible for her to grasp anything in her confused state and it didn't help that she felt achy and nauseous. Rei squeezed her eyes shut and held up a hand, not precisely knowing why she did so, but it was the only action she could come up with to convey silence. Her other hand stayed fast to her forehead trying to suck the pain from her brain.

"It goes away in minutes," Ami explained as she placed a hand on Rei's shoulder. The raven-haired girl flashed a smile that was less than sincere but Ami didn't take it to heart. She'd awoken in the same fashion and simply meant to display a sense of altruism. She knew that her consoling attempt wouldn't dissipate the spinning, but friendly words could never hurt.

"Thanks Ami," Rei voiced as the buzz slowly began to fade. It hung in the back of her ears as if she'd been near a blasting speaker but the spinning leveled to a humming tremor. Her vision was alive, her sight was different, it was almost as if she were beginning to see things clearer. Her eyes felt like literal lenses; focusing, adjusting, and zooming to a level she felt unobtainable by mere human sight. Rei closed her eyes, rubbing them vigorously with her palms before opening them again. She still felt like her vision was sharper but the lens sensation had disappeared. A scowl marred her pretty lips. "This mission wasn't contrived very well," she complained angrily, taking a shaky look at their surroundings. They were on the bank of some shallow river.

Minako nodded in agreement. "Cursory, level 5."

Ami raised an eyebrow, surprised at Minako's heightened vocabulary. "Out of?" she questioned.

"Five," Minako frowned, feeling a bit of responsibility. She was supposed to assume the role of leader amongst her Inner Senshi. She should have said something, should have demanded to form a more concrete plan before they blindly sent themselves into what increasingly felt like a suicide mission. It was funny how only when they landed in the alternate dimension did she question what she was actually supposed to _do_.

Ami held up her hands, palms facing outwards as if to halt her comrade's worries. "We cannot panic," she said sternly. "We're only stressing because we've just arrived. We addressed the rapidity of our mission before we came here; it was a necessary haste due to our ignorance about where we were going."

Rei, still slightly reeling from awaking, looked confused. "Our ignorance, isn't that why we were carless?"

Minako's face looked grim. "Of course we were careless, that's how we generally operate. You know, heart over head and that sort of thing."

"No, speed was of the essence, you guys," Ami cut in. "A man reached Usagi in her dreams from _another dimension_ threatening to destroy our own. That is alarmingly dangerous. Immediate extermination is our priority."

Rei's body and mind were on the mend. "I'm sorry to impose doubt," she said. "I'm just still not feeling well. It is starting to go away though. Maybe we should just transform and the pain will go away," she joked with a smirk.

Minako gave Rei a tight smile. "Yeah, about that…"

* * *

She knew that the descent had been hard and fast. It was unfathomable how she possibly could have survived such a fall but she'd blacked out on the way down. The reason she was still alive was unbeknownst to her. The dream that had claimed her mind blurred away in a puddle of unknown. Somewhere in the midst of the plunge she'd hit her head, and as a consequence she could now only faintly comprehend her surroundings.

With her vision unstable, the shapes of towering sentry-like trees muddied the landscape, accompanied by the blooming growth of hazy flowers. Makoto groaned and tried to push herself at least to her knees. Her efforts were weak, however and, at the trickle of warm blood down her neck, she knew she wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. She halted a groan in the depths of her throat at the spinning headache and pain that cultivated her mind and body.

She felt as if she were in a dream of swirling colors fading in and out of her mind. This made it all the more confusing when a pair of sneakers appeared before her eyes. Was she hallucinating? She moaned and reached for the sneakers, aching to feel some sort of concrete evidence that she hadn't somehow died and gone to heaven, that she could actually feel something tangible…

* * *

Orihime had been drawn out that night. She'd had plans to hang out with Tatsuki that evening but cancelled on her friend, making up a lame excuse and opting instead for a solo evening stroll. She couldn't explain what it was but it had happened so fast she almost hadn't realized what she was doing. One moment Orihime was putting on her shoes, preparing to walk out to door towards Tatsuki's place. The next moment she was picking up the phone and cancelling her plans with the girl. She'd put the phone down in a haze, not quite positive why she had done that. The only thing Orihime knew was that she needed to go for a walk. Almost in a trance the girl had gathered her keys and headed for the door.

Her stroll took her west towards a park, one of the only densely forested areas in Karakura. She briefly wondered why she was heading there, Orihime not generally one for lone nature walks, but she brushed off the feeling and quickened her pace. Though she'd never been there Orihime worked the park paths like a pro. She was smart enough to recognize that something supernatural was at work here based on her innate ability to navigate the wending trails but threw caution to the wind and let her body take her to its intended destination.

The buttery, yellow light of evening turned candy orange, its angle and luster highlighting the pollen and natural particles that filled the air. Orihime ambled down a hill, her arms out helping her balance as she stumbled slightly. She knew that this kind of light never lasted long and soon it would be night time but—

The sound of a rustle pierced her ears and the young girl froze. Her eyes scanned the base of the hill for movement, danger, anything. She slowly unfroze herself, walking cautiously down the rest of the hill's expanse with her head on a swivel for the perpetrator of the sound. She heard a groan and her eyes snapped right, landing on a huddled mass at the base of a giant tree. The tree's roots protruded through the forest's grassy ground in a protective pen as if guarding whatever lay there from anyone on the path—anyone except for Orihime.

Ordinarily the girl would have been wary but Orihime pushed through the brush and approached what remained beneath the tree. It's shape took form as she closed the space between them; clenching hands dug into the grass, legs slowly moved in an attempt to raise itself before falling helplessly back to the ground. It was a girl.

Orihime walked up to her and stood. Blood drenched the girl's back, a slice evidenced by the hair matted beneath her ponytail was the clear origin of her misery. Situation assessed, Orihime looked down, watching as the girl's eyes focused in an out on her shoes before reaching a shaky hand out for the white soles…

Orihime's eyes blinked as if she had been released from a spell. She saw the hand dangerously close to her shoe and squealed, taking a small step backwards. Gathering her wits about her, the young girl shook her head, remembering the blood, and quickly kneeled at the groaning brunette's side.

"Miss," she said gently, softly touching her shoulder. . "What happened, are you okay?"

The girl tried to focus on Orihime, looking up and making haphazard eye contact before her eyes glazed over and she closed them. "Fell…" came her strained reply.

Fell? Orihime looked up, noting the sporadic limbs that branched out from the grand tree she sat before. They were easy enough to climb. Looking back down she surveyed a backpack and came to the conclusion that the girl before must have been free climbing. She placed her hands above the girl's neck. "Just relax miss, everything is going to be okay."

A halo as orange as the sun encased her wound, Orihime watching as, in a matter of well concentrated minutes the slice disappeared and the internal damage healed. The girl's eyes went from hazy to clear with each passing minute and each repaired fiber until she felt completely healed. Orihime rolled back on her heel, watching as the amazed girl gently rolled her neck, feeling where there'd once been some serious damage.

Makoto still felt nauseous but held back the vomit. When what had just occurred ran through her head (falling; bleeding; healing; unknown universe) she sprung back, excitable and wary eyes staring wide at the seemingly innocent girl who'd jumped at her sudden movement but remained squatting before her.

Orihime was unfazed, hiding her face in the crux of her knees. "Are you okay?" she asked, shy voice muffled by her peach skin.

Makoto's body buzzed with the desire to bolt, to run away and hide. She didn't bother to hide her emotions on her face, the unpredictable nature of her whereabouts clouding any belief that postured bravery was permissible. She made a move to stand and bolt when something clicked in her head. Her body was as still as a statue, poised to stand but kneeling and she stared incredulously at the girl in front of her.

"You speak Japanese?!" she yelled, pointing an astonished finger.

Now Orihime was confused. "…of course I do," she responded slowly, "we're in Japan."

Makoto's mouth fell open. Japan? They were in Japan?! Had they screwed up the entire mission, had they gone through the wrong gate? Makoto panicked and her breathing came labored. _What would Ami say?_ She asked herself, trying to remain calm and failing. _We're in Japan, ok. Maybe it's an alternate Japan? A fourth dimension. A crazy planet called Japan?!_

Orihime watched as the girl struggled with some inner monologue. Her head tilted to the side. "Are you American? Your Japanese is very good."

"American?!" Makoto balked before getting slightly offended. She knew about America?! "Am I on planet Earth?!" she let slip before zipping her lips tight. This girl was going to think she was absolutely nuts.

Orihime looked at her with pity. "You must have hit your head pretty hard," she said, confused as to why her powers hadn't helped with that. "Yes, we're in the universe, in the milky way, in the solar system, on planet earth, in Asia, in Japan, in Karakura Town."

Makoto's eyes narrowed sharply. Karakura?

* * *

At Minako's words Rei paled. She felt the spinning and the nausea hit her full force again. "What do you mean we can't transform?!" she yelled angrily, not helping the amalgamating sickness within her. In quick desperation she flicked her wrist slightly, hoping to feel the hard materialization of her symbolism for hope. No wand appeared however and no power fizzled in her palm. Initially shock washed over her as she realized that they were stuck in an alternate dimension with no power. She opened her mouth to express said alarm when a realization washed over her.

Ami watched carefully as Rei's once clear panicked look melted into a distracted one. Something was turning in her friend's mind, something she was sure she had thought of herself. Rei looked up and made direct eye contact with her and Ami knew that she'd come to the same educated guess. Rei voiced their shared epiphany. "The dream," she said.

Ami nodded. "That was my first guess as well."

Rei shook her head slowly. "But…then where did it all go?"

Ami opened her mouth to respond with her constructed theory but was cut off by Minako. Said girl waved her hands in front of herself. "Um, while I appreciate that you two are so brainy, perhaps you could fill in the one who got the good looks?" Rei leveled her with a stare and Ami rolled her eyes.

"I'm guessing you had the same dream as me before you woke up, neh Mina-chan?" Ami asked, watching as the blonde put a finger to her chin.

"Tank, warmth, no tank, cold, vomit, warmth?"

Ami sweatdropped at her brief description. It was no wonder the girl didn't parse through the meanings. "Yes," she confirmed, ready to divulge her idea. "I'm assuming that it was some sort of transfer of power." Ami inhaled and her two friends were well aware that they were about to be on the receiving end of a long string unguarded eloquent explanations. "The first warmth we felt was our Senshi powers, I believe. They were contained, something we knew well enough to use with our eyes closed. To be analytical," she murmured, "the fluid was the containment, the comfort, and our Senshi abilities."

"Wait, wait," Minako interrupted already. "I'm confused," she confessed, throwing up her hands in defeat. Though she'd first had a small grip on the situation, Rei couldn't help but agree with her blonde haired friend.

Ami hummed. "Well," she said, "if the fluid and the warmth resemble our Senshi powers and control of such powers then you have to realize that both the fluid and the warmth disappeared."

Minako's interested demeanor faded quickly into incredulity. "You can't be serious?" she cried. "Are you saying we've lost our powers?"

"Yes and no," Ami continued. "You have to realize Mina-chan that we're not in our dimension anymore. Our _Senshi _powers do not exist anymore. No longer can we transform into our alter ego's because the affinity we had with our planets back home does not exist here."

Rei leaned forward. "What are we going to do without our powers? How can we possibly face any amount of danger without reasonable defense?" Ami did not respond and chose to ignore her comment.

"Do you remember the second warmth?"

The two nodded.

"That, I believe, is what I mentioned first; a transfer of power. Instead of being contained within our wands or stretched between the relationships with our planets, all of our unbridled power has been forced within our bodies. The container isn't our wands anymore, but rather," she waved her hands in front of herself, "us. It's become a sort of spirit energy, if you will."

"So then this headache and the pain were side effects, symptoms of this 'transfer of power'," Minako supplied, placing her hand to her stomach. Now that Ami had explained her hypothesis it was like a dam of realization was unleashed. She could feel the power surging through her body in torrents.

"And how to use it?" Rei asked, looking down at her palms, remembering the way her eyes had felt like lenses. Could that have been a side effect? Were they powerful beyond their Senshi forms now?

"Unfortunately beyond my comprehension."

Rei figured as much. She sighed. "But we have more pressing issues at the moment," she said, her friends watching her as realization and worry slowly dawned in their eyes. "Like where the hell we are," she eyed their surroundings, well aware that there was no one near them. "And where the hell Mako-chan is."

* * *

It was almost like they were dead.

Usagi could not feel one trace of her inner Senshi and the bothersome fact itched at her mind for the rest of the day. If she hadn't known that they were in another dimension she really would have thought that they were gone. This was another worrisome thing. What if they did die? How would she know? Would she be able to get them back?

All of these questions consumed her mind and the mediocrity of her Senshi team against Galaxia when she first arrived also played out. What if they were too weak? Questions like these burned into her consciousness and she found that she would never be able to live on happily if one part of her heart, if one of her friends, disappeared.

A hand touched her head and she could smell Michiru's perfume.

"We're leaving, Usagi-chan," she whispered, setting a glass of water on the table by the couch her princess was sitting on. "Please try to get some rest. Have trust in them. If not from you, then where will that external strength come from?"

The question floated around in her mind for a mere moment before being lost with the other myriad questions that surged through her brain. "Everything will be okay," was Usagi's only response. She looked up and gave Michiru a steady smile.

"Right," the water Senshi said, less enthusiastically. With a pat to Usagi's head, she and Haruka left.

Usagi wrapped the blanket around her tighter and stared at the TV, not really comprehending the anime show she was watching. All she wanted was movement, something distracting and noisy to keep the empty house from seeming so lonely.

All she wanted was to get warm…

Curl up…

And fall asleep…

Her eyelids grew heavy almost as if her wish had been granted. Funny, she hadn't felt tired before Michiru left… but soon a weighted darkness fell upon her.

_Usagi…_

Her lip twitched.

_Usagi…_

There was a vision of a cool and calculating smile and fierce eyes. His deep voice reverberated in her dream.

_Hello again, Usagi…_

"Usako!"

Usagi awoke and jumped from her position on the couch. She grasped at her breast, clutching at her frantically beating heart. Her beady eyes shifted around the room until they landed on her worried looking boyfriend. His eyes were knitted together and his lips turned down in a frown.

"I've been trying to wake you for five minutes," he placed a soft hand to her head and it was almost like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. "Are you alright?" he asked, brushing her bangs from her sweating forehead. He saw the tears in her eyes. "Usagi?"

"Call Haruka and Michiru."

Mamoru pulled out his watch. "Usagi it's two o'clock in the morning."

She shook her head vehemently. "Call them now!"

The room was quiet except for Usagi's overwrought breaths as Mamoru stared at her in a staid coolness. He put a hand to her forehead again and felt her burning skin. The only problem was that instead of being flushed, her face was unbelievably pale. He didn't need to be a doctor to knw what was going to happen next when she grabbed her stomach and groaned. Mamoru reached over and grabbed a wide vase that was sitting on the table next to the couch, chucked the flowers to the ground, and held it under her chin just in time to catch the vomit that spewed from her lips.

This had happened the first time that man had contacted her in her dreams.

"Mamo-chan…" she groaned before unleashing another wave of vomit. At first he thought she was hyperventilating when her shoulders began to shake. However when he saw the tears blemish her pallid face he recognized that she was crying. Her body shook and she let out the most horrendous cry he'd ever heard her scream. "They're going to die," she wailed, face contorted into an ugly mask of sorrow and pain before she threw up once more into the vase.


	3. First Petty Banter

**JPandS:** You're still here! WOW that makes me so happy! I was truly starting to wonder if our entire fandom had just kind of up and left :/ I'm glad you're excited about the update! Your words are definitely something that's keeping me writing this. I was starting to think that no one really cared about these anymore X.( Your words make me blush! Thank you so much for the compliments, you have no idea how much I appreciate them. And I'm glad you appreciate the Usagi/Mamoru. Everyone usually hates it and I have no idea why. I've got some spicy plans for them. Any feelings on updating any of your stories any time soon, you've got some of my absolute faves! Eh? Eh? :)

Please let me know what ya'll think about this chapter and story, I'd really appreciate it!

* * *

**Ascension**

**Chapter Three: **First Petty Banter

Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon or Bleach.

Haruka stared passively out of the large window to her right. Her chin remained propped up by her left hand and her right hand twittered idly with the straw to her milkshake. It wasn't as if she were devoid of emotion, it was just that too much had been occurring, to many unanswered questions were being proposed and forgotten about, and no one seemed to question the strange happenings. That and it did happen to be three o'clock in the morning.

Mamoru had called them in a hurry, the duress in his voice obvious over the phone and Haruka could have sworn she heard Usagi softly crying in the background. Her thoughts had been confirmed when Mamoru spat out that Usagi had been contacted again by the mysterious dream man, only this time he'd sent Usagi a message that it was inevitable that her friends would die.

Haruka and Michiru had hurried over to Mamoru's apartment, still wiping the sleep from their eyes as Usagi, despite her disheartened and messy look, asked them to go out with her for a milkshake. It was an obvious maneuver to suppress her sadness and the stress loaded onto her shoulders and Haruka's first inclination was to tell her no but Michiru had beaten her to it. She volunteered Haruka for the job, saying that she and Mamoru would decipher what answers they could from Usagi's dream. And that's how Haruka ended up drinking a milkshake at three o'clock in the morning.

Usagi had been downright depressed since her friends left. It wasn't an outright depression that just any person off the street could have caught. It was subtle and despite her clumsiness and seemingly dumb nature she was uncharacteristically good at keeping it restrained. She'd been much quieter and though she made and laughed at jokes she never got that fiery retort going that she used to with Rei. Haruka moved her cool blue eyes to her princess who remained sitting across from her, sipping slowly at a strawberry milkshake.

That was the other thing. She started to eat _slowly_. If anything, this is what bothered Haruka the most. Usagi's hand delicately held the glass and her lips tugged sluggishly on the straw. As if she could feel Haruka's eyes on her she looked up and raised an eyebrow.

"What's up, Haruka?" she asked placidly, taking another sip of her melting milkshake. At the short haired blonde's questioning glance she deemed to explain. "You were glaring at me."

Haruka's brows rose suddenly. "My bad," she apologized. "I was just thinking about something else." It wasn't a complete lie but it wasn't the complete truth either. Usagi pulled her mouth from the straw and a glob of strawberry milkshake fell directly into the lap of her flowered dress. She stared at it for a moment before erupting in giggles, those empty, hollow chuckles that she'd been emitting ever since her closest friends left.

It was completely disheartening and Haruka couldn't stand it. Pushing her vanilla milkshake away she pinned Usagi with a harsh glare. Said girl didn't realize it until she'd wiped the glob from her lap. Looking up she paused when she realized Haruka was giving her a mean stare. Usagi opened her mouth to speak but the older girl cut her off.

"You should have more faith in them, you know," she almost growled, crossing her arms over her chest. Her glare stayed steadfast on Usagi's now startled eyes. "It's not like they're amateurs Usagi-chan. They've lived their whole lives for you, it's their job if they ever had one."

Haruka realized later that perhaps those weren't the correct words to use when Usagi's eyes shifted to her fumbling fingers in her lap. Her eyes shifted left and right, smiling at the occasional passerby who glanced in her direction. Her blonde brows knitted together in worry as she swallowed. Usagi looked uncertain of herself, she looked as if she hadn't really wanted to talk about the subject Haruka was bringing up. She turned her head away momentarily before swiveling back towards Haruka with a new flush to her cheeks.

"Why should they live their lives solely for my purpose?" she asked with more vigor than she had in a while. Haruka smiled.

"They are your bodyguards, Usagi-chan. Why do you think they are in a different _dimension_ right now, risking their lives for you? It's because an enemy is threatening the one thing we all hold most dear." At this Usagi closed her eyes and placed her face into her soft hands. "You, Usagi-chan."

As much as Haruka hated playing the sort of devil role on the team she realized that she was the best at it, she held an air that would allow people to pardon her for saying things she maybe hadn't ought to. "Don't let their risk be in vain. " Immediately Haruka wanted to take back her words, those kinds of statements didn't fit her, they were much too sappy.

Giving a sigh she reached her long fingers over the shiny table and grasped one of Usagi's hands from her face. "We're all integral pieces to this puzzle, Usagi-chan. They must go to protect our world from an external threat, we're hear to keep the key to this world safe from that intruding external threat and you, little Usagi, must remain healthy and happy because if your walls start to crumble who knows how this new enemy may take advantage of you?" she gave her princess's hand a squeeze. "You are the key to this puzzle and it can't be finished without you."

Usagi looked up. Her eyes still looked sad but there was a minute sense of resolve floating in them. A new pinch of hope swam in their watery depths and her lips twitched into a shaky smile. With a sigh she took a sip of her milkshake.

Haruka secretly grinned and gave herself a mental pat on the back. Job well done.

* * *

Mamoru sat unnerved in his chair. The library was a quiet place with dimmed, warm lights and plush seating for the curled up reader. It was almost strange how many people were there at three o'clock in the morning. Students sat hunched in chairs, papers strewn messily over dark wooden tables as their shadowed and hooded eyes now moved slowly down lines over and over again. Mamoru shook his head, knowing in the pit of his stomach that he would have been in the same position, working on his paper about fifteenth century Venetian mercantilism, if he hadn't been there to figure out a different mystery.

He couldn't get the night out of his head. Usagi had been calm in her sleep, but she'd been mumbling nonsensical words, things that had no correlation to each other and that sounded like gibberish. When he couldn't wake her up he began mentally cataloguing the words while still trying to release her from what seemed like a nightmarish sleep.

He rubbed his eyes beneath his glasses and tapped a pen on a pad of paper, earning annoyed glances from the shadowy students pulling all-nighters. He ran a hand through his hair and sat back in a frustrated hunch. On the paper he'd written down all of the words he could remember that she'd said. They weren't Japanese, that was for sure, and he was pretty sure they weren't English, a language he'd been learning for quite some time. Pulling the pad into his lap he looked over them again.

_Arrancar, Espada, Menos…_ had she said _Grande_ or was it _Grand Day_? Was it Lochness or… something else? And what on Earth was _Hueco Mundo_? He continued down the list; _Hierro…_

He sat for a few moments, pondering over the strange words his girlfriend had mumbled in her tortuous sleep. Now that he put it all together it sounded less like gibberish and more like a concrete language… but what? Mamoru sat for a moment to think, but it was hard to do so when there were two girls chatting away, though silently, behind him. He inherently wondered why he was the one to receive the glares with his tapping pen when these girls were babbling like children.

He tried a few more minutes to think but the talking behind him set up an invisible wall in his brain. Heaving out a sigh he turned in his chair to give them a firm talking to when he actually heard what they were saying. In front of them were a mass of papers and books strewn across a table. Obviously the two were working on something, but it looked as if at the moment it was break time, seeing as how they had leaned away from the table and were turned towards each other. They didn't look Japanese and they certainly weren't speaking Japanese. One had curly brown hair and caramel colored skin. Her eyelashes were thick and she had a thin face. Her friend looked similar only with pin straight black hair. Mamoru paused when he heard a fragment of their conversation.

"_Iliana me dijo que el novio suyo quiere hacer_lo _todas las noches…"_

"_De veras? Dios mio, ella necesita salir es—."_

"Excuse me," Mamoru interrupted quietly, sticking a hand out to pause their conversation. "I was just wondering if—"

One of them placed a hand to her mouth. "I'm sorry," she said softly in perfect Japanese, "were we speaking too loudly?"

While Mamoru wanted to say yes, that was his initial reason for speaking to them in the first place, he shook his head and smiled at them politely. "No, I was just wondering where you two were from. The language you were speaking was quite pretty." He watched with a sort of depleted outlook when they looked at each other and raised their eyebrows.

"We're from Mexico," one explained, flipping her long black hair over her shoulder. "This is Andrea and I'm Lupita, we were speaking Spanish," she said politely, contrasting their previous dumbfounded looks. "We're here on an exchange program."

Mamoru put on his best fake, flirt smile and leaned forward. He could see the one called Andrea return the flirtatious gesture. "This may sound strange but I heard you say something like 'too-das las now-chez'." He knew he'd butchered it but he also knew that was the only way to let them warm up to him; let them teach him something.

Andrea laughed. "No, that was _todas las noches_. It means every night." She gave a little bat of her eyes and crossed her legs. "Why do you ask?"

"Every night?" Mamoru repeated, trying to avoid her last question because he hadn't formed a completely solid answer yet. "So does las noches mean night?" he questioned.

Lupita scrunched her face a little. "Well, sort of. It's plural, as in more than one night but basically yes, it means 'the nights', I guess. It's hard to make a direct translation."

Mamoru smiled, gathering up his things. "Of course, of course," he said, standing from his chair and looking towards the doors that led to other parts of the library. "Thank you so much for your help," he said and began to walk away, leaving the two exchange students to stare after him, confused, before resuming their conversation.

So it hadn't been Lochness that Usagi had said… It'd been _las noches_…

Usagi had been mumbling words in _Spanish_.

But why?

His legs moved quickly and Mamoru reached the area he'd been looking for: the foreign language section. He really could have just stayed and asked those two women for the translations he needed but honestly that probably would have entailed getting to know them more and spending more time with them; things he didn't really want to do, and plus, he had a girlfriend, he didn't want to lead them on anymore. Pulling down a large book he sat down for a few moments and looked up the words he'd had written down on his pad, translating each one until he was done.

When he'd finished he looked at the pad of paper in wonder. _To tear off, sword, minus big (_he'd put a question mark by that one)_, night, hollow world,_ and _iron_.

What on earth was Usagi dreaming about?

Gathering his belongings he headed towards Michiru and Haruka's house.

* * *

It had been pure instinct, pure practice and habit when Minako had darted towards the screaming voice. She could hear Rei and Ami behind her and knew that the same thought was running through their head; what exactly were they going to do when they got there?

At first Minako thought that maybe it was a mugging, a girl in trouble, but the horrendous, monstrous scream that obviously belonged to _no _human that followed her high pitched wail eradicated all possibilities of a mugging. She rounded a corner and froze, stumbling only when Rei and Ami bumped into her, surprised at her sudden halt.

Minako heard Rei's huff. "Mina-chan, what the hell are you stopping for?"

The blonde pointed ahead of them and Rei and Ami looked up, and up…and up at a giant…_creature_. It was like a youma multiplied by seven. Its face was covered in a giant skull-like mask and its body was a giant mass of blue. It's shoulders hung low and it hunched over like a monkey as it screamed once again at a small girl who sat frightened on the street. A long, strong tail sat calmly behind it.

"Hopefully other people have scattered by now," Rei said, eyes searching quickly for any other people who may have been witness to this monster. "What are we going to do? It's not like we have any means to defeat this thing…"

Minako was anxious. She wanted nothing more than to throw up her hand and yell '_Venus Star Power!' _But she knew that doing so would do no good. "We may not have our Senshi powers but that doesn't mean we can't help her." Minako's foot wouldn't stop bouncing, she was itching to run towards the petrified girl and help her but a certain care and sense was keeping her from moving before they had a strategy. "We aren't completely defenseless, we know evasive moves, perhaps that will—" Minako lurched forwards as Ami ran by and brushed her shoulder.

"Ami!" Rei screamed, reaching out to stop the girl, but the blue haired genius was gone. "What is she doing?" she screamed again before running after her, an appalled Minako right behind her.

Ami had been watching. She had been observing and calculating while Minako and Rei had been talking. Her mind moved like turning wheels in the cycle of thought. The whole time they'd been standing there the monster hadn't attacked yet. Something was preventing it from doing so. As well, there was a strange line protruding from the chest of the girl that looked a lot like linked chains… not to mention the fact that it's long tail was twitching ever closer to her.

Moments before the tail could do any damage Ami nabbed the crying girl and sprinted away, a mass of rubble spraying into the air as the tail smashed the spot the girl had once been sitting on. She crashed into the ground, crying out slightly as she felt her shoulder dislocate—a weak spot she'd always had. Fragments screamed by Ami's face from the sheer force of the crash as she sheltered the girl underneath her own body. She winced when a few shards nicked her skin and waited in silence for something else to happen.

When nothing did Ami peeked open her eyes. She looked down at the puffy red eyes of the girl she'd saved. She wore a small pink shirt that most nearly met the color of her weeping orbs. Jutting from the center of that shirt was exactly as Ami had imagined; it was a liked chain connected to a hole in her chest. She lifted a hand and touched it, unsure of what exactly she was being witness to. It wasn't cool or warm, like Ami had expected it to be, but rather it was as if she wasn't feeling anything at all. Her hand traced all the way to the end of the chain where the links merely disappeared…

"Are you alright?" she asked the girl in a small voice, patting down her hair in a motherly fashion. The little girl didn't respond, she only stared at Ami with her giant, incredulous eyes. Her small mouth twittered a bit as Ami studied her and she grabbed the hand that was grasping the chain coming out of her chest.

"You can see me?"

Ami, not expecting that reaction at all, pulled away a bit and tilted her head to the side. She gazed at the little girl again in a moment of disbelief before looking down to the chain sticking out from her chest. "Of course I can see—"

"Ami move!"

Ami glanced up just in time to see the tail of the monstrosity in front of her come flying in their direction once again. She looked down at the girl and a spark of uncertainty flashed through her eyes. How was she going to lift her with her dislocated shoulder? Her mind and body at that moment weren't working quick enough, and Ami threw her small body over the girl and waited, body tense, for the impact.

Minako lunged in front of her friend, crossing her arms in front of her face. She took the brunt force of the attack in her side, its tail assaulting with so much vigor that it sent her careening to the side. Ami's words caught in her throat as she reached with her unhurt arm towards her friend in an unknown gesture. Did she want to help, was she frightened, was she hopeless?

Minako lay almost motionless where she landed. Her leg moved and her body curled in pain, both actions topped off with a dismal moan. Her hand reached out and grasped some rubble, fingers itching to find salvation. Ami pulled her body up slowly, picking the girl up with her uninjured arm and stumbled towards Minako. Rei whizzed by her and picked up the groaning blonde gingerly and put her on her back.

"Ami, can you run?" she asked quickly, eyes darting upwards towards the monster.

Ami gave a silent nod on shaky legs as she pulled the girl onto her own back.

"Good," Rei said and began to run as fast as she could away from the masked monster. Ami followed behind her, shaking the cobwebs from her mind. Unfortunately for them, however, the monster was a surprisingly fast creature and it rounded on them in mere moments.

Rei froze as it unleashed another horrendous cry, its head tilted back to release the optimum scream. She took a few steps back and looked down in annoyance at her civilian clothes. How on earth was she going to release her powers? She didn't know how, even Ami didn't know how, they needed Luna or someone to guide them, someone to show them how to reached the new power that resided within them.

The monster took another step towards her as if it were enjoying the helpless look she had plastered on her face. Rei and Ami took a few more steps backwards as the monster crept closer still. The raven-haired priestess looked down at her hands that were grasping Minako's scratched legs and a thought popped into her head.

_How did I gain my powers from Mars?_ She asked herself as the creature screamed again, edging closer.

_Luna…_ a part of her brain added. She shook her head.

_Without the wand…what brought the symbol to my forehead?_

Rei continued to back up, tripping over some rubble and almost dropping Minako in the process. She thought back to her very first Senshi encounter.

_The bus, the children, Usagi and Ami, adrenaline and…_

There was something else, something that had tipped Rei over the edge when she'd faced off with Jadeite, something that brought out her brute needs. It was a little bit of anger and… an indescribable feeling. It was something akin to stature, something parallel to fright, and a definite dab of fearlessness and excitement. Rei set Minako down and glanced over at Ami. She knew exactly what she had to do.

* * *

Makoto watched the girl in front of her warily. "Karakura Town?" she asked quietly, more so to herself but her savior nodded anyway. There was one thing she had to clear up, one thing that would settle her nerves slightly. "Have you…heard of Minato-ku…Juuban?"

Now Orihime was getting wary. "Yes, I have," she responded. Was this girl daft or had she seriously been brain damaged? Perhaps she needed to take her to get some professional help. "Maybe we should get you to a hospital."

"How did you heal my wound?" The intensity in her stare was intimidating. Orihime spent most of her time around excruciatingly intimidating people so she was used to such feelings. However she felt caught, not quite sure how to explain the reconstructive nature of her soul's inexplicable power… "How did you heal my wound?" she asked again, more forceful this time.

She didn't know what to do. "I—"

Orihime stopped speaking when the brunette turned her head sharply. Her eyes were wide and wild, shifting quickly and constantly as if trying to find something. Trepidation lingered there however but her body was tense with preparation for anything, alert for any danger. And then Orihime heard it, a wild and feral scream so ferocious and loud it was impossible to ignore.

But her astonished eyes turned quickly away from where her ears picked up the sound and back to the girl in front of her. She had _heard_ that? It was unmistakably a Hollow…but Orihime couldn't sense an iota of reiryoku in this girl. Well perhaps there was something…

"What was that?" the girl asked breathily and Orihime wasn't quite sure how to respond. The scream radiated in the forest again, shaking the trees of their leaves as a horde of birds flew the coop, frightened of whatever lay beyond.

Orihime looked up, watching briefly as the sky became awash with black feathery wings, ascending higher and higher into the darkening sky and leaving behind their newfound home. The sound of their flapping and cawing was unnaturally loud. Tufts of raven colored fluff tumbled about in the night air. Suddenly an extremely uncomfortable feeling washed over her. They had been watched. The hair on Orihime's arms raised high as she sensed the eyes on them departing with the fleeing birds. Something was very, very wrong.

When the girl she'd healed suddenly sprang forward towards the sound of the screaming, Orihime forgot the feeling and immediately panicked. Pushing herself from the ground with eyes wide she ran after her. "What are you doing?!" She screamed after her, pushing her body to catch up with the unnaturally fast girl. She pushed branches from her face and almost fell twice on protruding logs.

"Someone could be in trouble!"

Orihime blanched. Was she _insane?_ Something about this reminded her of someone, however, and Orihime's incredulity slowly faded. Instead she focused on keeping up with her and aimed her attention on locating the Hollow despite the girl's uncanny ability to follow its resonance.

Makoto wasn't quite sure what she was doing. Her instinct to run towards trouble and not away from it was ingrained. It was never going to go away. All she knew was that her body was taking her in that direction. Bile rose dangerously in her throat as she pushed her drained body towards the scream. She knew that noise; she'd heard it once many, many years ago…

* * *

"Watch Minako for a second," Rei commanded before darting directly towards the monster. Ami sprinted over to Minako and Rei heard her yell her name in desperation. The Senshi of Mars shook her head. Ami had had a plan before and now it was her turn to exercise her mental conceit.

What she needed was a dangerous situation that could only be evaded by using her powers. She needed to put her life on the line to set her body in survival mode where her powers would come of their own volition. The monster screamed at her once again and she felt her heart patter uncomfortably in her chest. In her stomach, however, she felt a pool of warmth. There was something fiery there that needed exiting. Rei focused her harboring warmth through the channels of her body towards her hands. She was almost there…

So close, so close.

So _very _close…

Before she knew it someone grabbed Rei right before the monster took a swat at her, and right before the fire reached her hands. She felt herself soaring through the air and wondered if her Senshi powers had come back. Perhaps her own body had saved her, maybe it was moving of its own desire, that perhaps she'd evaded the attack on her own.

When she landed, however, she knew it wasn't so. The man who'd rescued her was a sort of scrawny fellow with dark hair and small, round glasses. He wore a strange white uniform and glared down at her with surprisingly sharp blue eyes.

Rei glared up at him with just as much fervor. "What the hell are you doing?" she screamed, trying to pull away from his firm grip on her arms.

"I could ask you the same thing," he said calmly, not letting go. "Why on earth are you running _towards _it? You may be able to see it but that doesn't mean you have the powers to destroy it."

Rei was furious to say the least. She had been _trying _to get her powers back. If this guy hadn't nabbed her then she'd probably be flailing fire balls by now. Her blood was boiling she was so angry. "Well I could have if you hadn't interrupted!" she yelled, trying again to get out of his grip. She was successful this time but not by her own strength. The man pulled his hands away from her and shook them, staring at her in astonishment.

"Goodness, you're ungodly hot!"

Needless to say, Rei blushed. The blush soon turned to red-hot fury as she put her hands on her hips and a scowl marred her pretty lips. "This is hardly the time for flattery! There is a monster over there and you're commenting on my looks?" she yelled.

"Not your looks, I m-mean you are pretty, very pretty in-in fact," Rei glared harder, "but I meant your skin. Your body literally feels like it's on fire!"

Rei's glare melted and she looked down at her hands. "It does?" she smiled. She erased that pretty feature quickly, however, and turned to him.

The guy raised an eyebrow and Rei could tell he was wondering how he'd picked up the crazy chick. He shook his head. "Anyways, my friend will take care of the Hollow. There's no need for you to worry anymore," he said, putting on his best Superman persona.

Rei blinked at her hands before looking up at him and raising an eyebrow. "What the hell's a Hollow?"

* * *

Ami watched in near amazement as the arm of the tall man let loose a blast of what looked like pure energy. It only nicked the monster, however, and it swung its tail towards him. In an unsightly display of strength the man fended himself from the tail and did not go flying like Minako had.

_These must be our allies,_ she thought, looking down and smiling at the girl in her arms. "Don't worry, everything is going to be alright now," she said softly as the girl grabbed tight to her sweater and hid her face in Ami's chest.

Ami looked over to Minako and saw that she was starting to fully rouse as she picked herself up to her knees. A now coagulating scab had formed on her arm, the grime of the pavement unfortunately setting into the scrape. She looked over to their saviors and then to Ami's kneeling form. Minako looked dazed, her eyebrows turned down in an obvious gesture of confusion, as she brushed her hands and stood. At the extension of her torso, however, she doubled over in pain, gripping futilely at her side, eyes shut tight and mouth a silent open chasm of agony. She pulled in a sharp breath and kneeled again, fingers clenching and unclenching, wanting to grip at her side but knowing that touching the wound would be a bad idea.

"Minako…" Ami said softly from her position with the girl. The blonde bent her head and held up her hand, freezing Ami's concerned words in her throat. The bluenette should have known better when she'd initiated her alarmed declaration and she shut her mouth quickly, swallowing the words back into the pit of her stomach harshly. Minako looked up, trying to eradicate the glossy pain from her eyes (unsuccessfully) and looked towards the one fighting man and the strangely dressed guy holding Rei back.

"And they are?"

Ami shrugged. "I'm assuming our allies. If not, they're our enemies."

Minako gave Ami a meaningful glance. "How perceptive of you," was her astute tease.

The smarter girl shrugged and held the girl tighter to her chest, drawing Minako's eyes to the timid and alarmed child. "They showed up out of nowhere and— oh look, here's two more. My, what on earth are they wearing? These people have some strange outfits…"

Her eyes drawn from the kid, Minako looked up to see a very short girl with dark hair in a black kosode and hakama. Her companion, a bright orange haired man, wore the same thing, only with one of the largest swords Minako could fathom extending from his right hand. The sharp tip was pointed exactly at the monster and he seemed to be arguing with his friend before he launched into an attack.

There were three things… okay, maybe four that literally could take Minako's breath away: the first would have to be famous people (naturally), the second was fifty percent off sales, the third was being hit really hard in the stomach by an enemy, and the fourth… well the fourth was disappearing people. Thus, consequently, Minako's breath disappeared when the brightly haired man suddenly disappeared and reappeared, sword poised for attack, directly above the head of the monster. With one swift down motion he cut through the monsters head and it disintegrated like oozing pixels. What made the shimmery blonde's cherry lips drop open in sheer astonishment, however, was when the man remained standing on… air. He disappeared again and it took Minako a few moments of head swiveling to find him once more on the ground, next to the girl he'd arrived with.

Sure she'd seen youma float before, but a human? Minako was shaken from her astonished thoughts by Ami's whisper. The whole group was staring at them.

"Should we meet them half way?"

Minako's lips pursed and a serious twinge nicked at her eyes. "No," she stated, watching as the three of them, the orange haired man, the taller man, and the girl along with the male and Rei behind them, walked steadily towards their stationary forms. "Meeting them halfway would be intrusive. If we had our powers I would say definitely, we need the leverage and some sort of backbone, but frankly Ami-chan we're straight up on the downside."

A curt nod was all she received in return.

Their strange saviors stood like sentries above them, calculating eyes scanning their every move, flinch, shift… the orange haired one opened his mouth to speak.

"Wh—"

"Oh how do you run so fast?" came a familiar distressed call, echoing into the midst of the streets. The gang looked up and Ami wondered if this would be the opportune moment to dart away. Thinking of the girl in her arms and the potential informational advancements that could spur from this meeting she kept her flighty feet and bum attached to the ground.

"I could have sworn I heard it somewhere around here!"

At the second voice Ami's head darted up, surprised. Her torso turned to face behind them and the open street. It was a firm voice, thick in nature and utterly and completely familiar. She glanced over at Minako and they shared a look, helping each other to stand and turn around.

"But—_huff_—you don't know what—_huff_—it could be!" They could hear the desperation in this voice and Rei noticed the four strangers give each other looks.

"If someone's in trouble then—"

The whole group stared on as two girls rounded a corner and skidded into sight. They froze when the two saw the perplexed group standing and watching them and surprised and happy smiles lit up their faces.

"Mako-chan!"

"Inoue!"

"Guys!" they both yelled. They looked at each other, confused, and consequently said together again, "you know them?"

"No…" Makoto said, pointing to the sword wielding, weirdly dressed four, "who are they?"

The orange haired guy with the permanent frown almost huffed boyishly. "Who are we? Who the hell are you?"

"Ichigo!"

"We—" Ami began.

Rei crossed her arms firmly. "We asked you first!" she bantered childishly. "And politely at that," she added haughtily. He glared at her.

"They were running a suicide mission," the guy with glasses deemed to explain.

"Suicide?" the four girls plus Orihime exclaimed, staring wide eyed at each other.

"I told you!" Rei yelled at him. "I was trying to get my powers back before you so rudely interrupted!"

"What powers?" he sneered. "You barely have any reiryoku—"

"Wait!" cried Makoto, a hand to her chest, "we lost our _powers_?!" she yelled, frightened.

Minako raised her hand. "No Mako-chan, it was a transfer—"

"Who are you people?" came the orange haired boys annoyed remark.

"If you would let us explain—" Ami tried.

"You shouldn't interfere where you don't belong," came the staid comment of the guy with glasses. Rei huffed and looked at him incredulously.

"We were merely trying to—" Ami tried again.

"It's a wonder they can even see us!" the orange haired guy said in a temper.

"You see we—" Ami tried politely a third time.

"Are completely lost?" the orange haired guy interrupted again.

Makoto wanted the smack him in the back of his head. "Let her explain, you orange haired asshole!"

"What…" Orihime mumbled.

"Orange haired— what? You have no right to comment on my hair color!"

Minako raised an eyebrow at his strange offense.

"And why not?" Makoto asked hotly.

The orange haired guy pointed to Ami. "Because her hair's blue!"

"Enough!" the short girl cried and suddenly the orange haired guy was stuck beneath her foot. "Cease this petty fighting, Ichigo, you look lame!" she yelled as he shoved her foot off of him and stood from the ground, arms folded across her chest. "Plus there's a soul here," she whispered so that only he could hear. The orange haired guy looked discreetly down towards the soul in the blue haired girl's arms. "If you'd stop this banter," she whispered softly again, "you would have noticed that they were trying to protect her." The short girl turned away from him and cleared her throat.

"My name," she said, loud and clear for everyone to hear, "is Rukia Kuchiki. And I," she stated regally, "am a Shinigami."


	4. Complications and Compensations

**JPandS: **I know, I'm kind of worried that no one is still here—SO glad you are…I'm honestly praying that when the show comes out again in December it'll spark up a resurgence or something and a flock of people will come. Fingers crossed…But I do miss the usuals. I don't even know where to post anything anymore—like do people still peruse the old Misc/Sailor Moon x-overs, or Sailor Moon/Gundam Wing? I was trying to make it so that people could find it…but gah, whatever, I'm so confused anyway. I hope they all lurk around too x( I totally feel you about the updates. I took a, you know, three year "meh" break hahaha. And yay that would be so exciting if you updated! I'd totally be reviewing like nobody's business. Thank you for your kind words again :D I'm really hoping things are making more sense. The more I re-read it, the more plot holes I find haha. I'm just glad I'm keeping everyone in character—that's something I really strive to do. I'm really, really glad you liked it. I've been working on new chapters and I can't WAIT to put them out—editing is just a harrowing process… meh…

* * *

**Ascension**

**Chapter four:** Complications and Compensations

Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon or Bleach

Ami blinked. Confused, at this point in the conversation, was quite an understatement. At first she'd rejected the hand of the small, impish looking girl when she reached for the child in her arms. Ami even shielded the frightened one when this 'Rukia' character drew the sword that rested on her hip. In a quick reaction to her maneuver, similar to the way in which Ichigo had first reacted when Rukia came to him, the female went into a long winded speech on the whole idealisms and objectives of Shinigami. She briefly brushed over the Soul Society and Rukongai, where the girl would most likely end up.

Ami brushed back a lock of the little girl's hair. "So you're saying that this girl is actually a soul?" she questioned softly, staring down into the pleading eyes of her current charge. "But she feels so real."

Rukia pursed her lips slightly, choosing to ignore Ami's silent comment. "I had no intention of alarming you when I drew my Zanpakuto," she said, motioning slightly to the gleaming sword in her hand. Ami swallowed and chanced a glance in Minako's direction, noticing the blonde had a calculating yet grim look in her usually cheerful eyes. She understood; don't automatically assume them enemies (after all, they had destroyed that giant monster), but keep a guard up and listen attentively to this girl's explanations. The blunette began mentally cataloguing her words in case any information she revealed could be useful in the future.

"Right now this girl is a Plus." Ami looked back up to the short girl from her position on the ground. "This means that she is solely the spirit of someone who's died. But do you see that chain connected to her chest?"

Minako eyed the chain warily, noting the corroded ends. "That's the Chain of Fate. If torn out or completely disintegrated she'll transform into something along the lines of what we just defeated."

Ami stared down at the shivering girl in her arms, staring in wonder. How was it possible that a being so young and so innocent could mutate to form the grotesque, bleating monster that they'd downed just a few moments ago?

"That's why we perform _Konso_, a ritualistic soul burial, if you will," Rukia continued to explain, brushing a bang from her eye before showing Ami the bunt of her sword. With a swift delicateness she pressed it to the forehead of the little girl and in a matter of seconds she disappeared. Rei stared incredulously at Ami's now vacant arms, the said girl looking down as if something had just been stolen from her hands.

"And to think we've seem some strange things…" the Miko muttered, crossing her arms over her chest. Then she announced, in a voice that demanded full attention, "Since we're swapping stories here, it seems that since you've explained the mysticism of your little encampment, we owe you the same."

At first Rukia's eyebrows shot up. She felt no definitive reiryoku from the four girls and yet there was something about them that felt completely…_off_. Rukia knew that there was a secret that she and her friends hid from the rest of the human world. But for some reason, just because these girls could see them, she'd spouted a miniature lecture on that very secret. Her eyebrows creased and she wondered if the slip hadn't only been her doing.

As Ami stood, her apprehensive charge now heading off to this _Spirit World_, she noticed Rukia's new, hesitant expression. "Where to start…" she mumbled, wiping her bottom, one handed, of pebbles and dirt. Her dislocated shoulder still throbbed with pain and she pressed a tentative palm to it. She'd have Minako reset it when they parted ways; there was no need showing weakness.

Ami heard a snort behind her and glanced up to see Makoto's tepid look. "Let's just say we're not from around here," she said with a smirk infused with cynicism, watching as the Shinigami's eyes swam with questions.

"Well that's putting it lightly," Minako grumbled, eyeing her swelling ankle nonchalantly. "At least we know we're on Earth."

Ishida's eyebrow rose, a slightly uneasy look in the eyes beneath his glasses. "Are you saying you're aliens?" he asked, shooting in the dark.

Rei let out a bark of laughter. "You could say that," she said icily, eyeing him and remembering how he ruined her previous chances of reaching the hibernating power in her body.

Ami raised a finger. "We are, though we aren't." When she received questioning looks from the group in front of her she shrank back, wrapping a protective arm around her shoulder once again. "Well, technically we are from Earth. Japan, even," she said softly.

Ichigo looked perplexed. His nerves were on edge and wished that they would spit it out. "Then how are you not from around here?" he demanded. "Are you from Hokkaido? Osaka?"

The four girls glanced at each other in silence. It was quiet and they seemed to be deciding just how much to tell. Minako cleared her throat. "Tokyo, actually."

Ichigo's eyebrows shot down. They were going in circles and he hated being led astray. "Then what is it?! Why are you not '_from around here'_," he growled.

Rei frowned and fiddled with a strand of her hair, waiting for one of her friends, probably Ami, to explain their whole situation. When the only thing she heard was a frustrated humph from the orange haired kid she looked up. All of her friends and the party in front of them were staring at her. She looked on in surprise and held up a hand.

"Don't make me say it, I'm not going to be the one they look at like I've just escaped from a mental institution. Uh-uh," she said, shaking her head and wagging a finger.

Makoto sighed and rolled her eyes at Rei's remark. "We're from a different dimension," she blurted offhandedly, sick of the back and forth banter. Time was precious at the moment and forward steps needed to be made. Her arms moved from across her chest to her hips when she became the recipient of the looks Rei had predicted.

"Believe what you want," she growled, her natural, impatient elements surfacing, "but frankly we don't have that much time." Keeping it short and sweet she chose her words wisely.

"Our princess is the keeper of an ineffably powerful crystal, one that apparently now has attracted the sights of someone from even a different dimension; such being this one." Makoto almost grimaced as she thought of the insurmountable repercussions if they failed. "In their efforts to receive the crystal they tried to infiltrate our dimension through the mind of our princess, a fixation that brought the translucent string that represents our dimension and the one that represents yours so close that they almost touched." Makoto brought her fingers together and intertwined them. "If they do touch, our dimension and yours will merge."

"Merge?" Sado asked as Orihime's interest was piqued. What the brunette had said was pretty hard to swallow—but then she had to remember that she frequented a world dominated by sword wielding spirits.

Minako nodded grimly. "And who knows what will happen then. It could completely destroy both dimensions or the two could possibly just become one."

Ichigo chose this time to interject. "And what was this power you spoke of?" he asked skeptically.

At this, the girls looked pointedly at Ami. She sighed. "At home we're known as the Sailor Senshi and we protect the world from monsters. Our powers come from a certain affinity to our home planets—"

"So you _are_ aliens," Ishida interrupted.

Ami glared and clasped her hands in front of her, giving the man the proudest look she could muster. "I am the reincarnation of the Princess of Mercury and thus entrusted with the inexpressible power that resides in its core. If being loyal to my original planet and serving to protect the one I now call home labels me as an alien then I suppose you may call me so. Never, however, use it as a slight or to give me any flack because when I regain what I lost you'll just have to see for yourself what my _alien powers _can do," she huffed. Ishida raised an interested eyebrow.

"As I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted," Ami continued, eyeing Ishida briefly, "since the affinity to our home planets does not exist in this dimension, the power that used to reside there has been cultivated within our bodies. And instead of being stretched, for example, between Mercury and Earth, my power is now only compressed within my very being."

"Then how come you cannot access it?" Rukia asked, confused.

"At home," Minako stepped in, "we used instruments to channel our power from our planet to our body. Unfortunately those instruments have disappeared and we have yet to figure out how to use the raw power," she explained. "We're not even sure what shape it will take. We used to have outfits and tiaras and phrases and stuff…" she mumbled.

Rukia gave her a curious look. Tiaras? What kind of manga generated pretty girl superheroes were these girls?

"Which is why I was running directly at that _Hollow_ thing, or whatever," Rei almost sneered at Ishida. "At home we first developed our power by harboring extreme emotions or being put in dire situations where our lives were at stake." She huffed a sigh and ran her hand through her hair once again. "I was trying to replicate that situation and emotion. I was about to reach that point before your little friend over there decided to play superman."

Ishida glared at her. "You're lucky I saved you."

Rei gaped. "Did you not just hear me? I was about to save myself!" Makoto put a hand to her shoulder and Rei cooled off a little bit.

The groups were silent for a moment, analyzing each other in a fashion that did not read 'companion'.

Minako rolled her eyes. "Look," she said, "we did not come to insinuate some false sense of camaraderie and you can believe our story or not. But the fact of the matter here is that both your world and our world are in danger and if we want to save either of them then I suggest that we at least learn how we can help each other."

Ami held up a hand to this. "But I would like to extend our friendship on behalf of my friends and myself." The crew in front of her looked wary and Ami grew nervous. "I don't know what to say to convince you and I don't know what to do to prove my ability but I have a feeling that you sense something is wrong." Ami made eye contact with Rukia when she noticed a spark of familiarity in the girl's eyes. Over her shoulder she saw the orange haired girl glance to Makoto and wondered if she felt it as well. "Your dimension is off balance because we are here. We need to do this as quickly as possible so that we can exit your domain with as little consequence as we can."

Rukia wouldn't have believed them, wouldn't have been so prepared to extend amity if she hadn't noticed the abnormal, almost fate-driven circumstance of their meeting. Orihime had shown up out of nowhere with one of their comrades. She herself had spoken liberally of their position in the Spirit World. An in its entirety, something felt amiss. Holding out her hand, Rukia nodded. Ami took it. "As I said, my name is Rukia. That's Sado, Orihime, Ishida, and the lame looking one there is Ichigo." Said boy glared down at her.

Ami gave her hand two solid pumps. "My name is Ami, and this is Rei, Makoto, and Minako."

Rukia nodded and watched her new 'comrades' closely. Rei was obviously the one with the quick temper. Her face was still flushed with anger and if looks could kill then Ishida would surely have been murdered by now. There was something, however, about the coolness she displayed before that hinted that there was something far more to this gorgeous girl than met the eye. Makoto was tall and obviously had a bit of an attitude like her friend, but she hadn't been as forthright thus her personality was lost on Rukia. Minako seemed kind but had a stern streak in her as well and a certain calculating coldness that her other teammates did not possess. Then there left Ami, the obvious peacemaker and it seemed like the plan-maker of the group. Rukia could see her analyzing her friends just as she was doing to hers. She smirked. She had a feeling she was going to like Ami.

They pulled away and smiled, some of the tension and possessiveness dropping. Rukia was about to give some witty remark about welcoming them to their humble dimension when an issue caught her mind.

"Where are you all staying?" she asked, crossing her arms. She sweatdropped when they all turned away, one whistling, one shuffling around a pebble, one scratched their head, and the other coughed.

Rei righted herself first. "Well to be frank we just arrived today…like about an hour ago. We hadn't really gotten that far. We kind of expected to be dropped into the middle of a crazy forest with blue people, like Avatar." When her friends raised their eyebrows at her Rei blushed. Mentally she shrugged. Maybe that was just her.

Rukia became suspicious. They'd just arrived and already they'd crossed paths? "Understandable, I suppose," she said, "you were coming to a new dimension. Who knew it was going to be just like your home?"

Minako beamed, a smile so pretty it caught Rukia off guard. "Exactly!" she laughed, "You've got it. Plus we hadn't really expected to run into allies so quickly." Rukia's eyes narrowed. The blonde had noticed it too. "We've pretty much set up camp on a little bank down by some river over there." Minako grinned.

Orihime stepped timidly forward. Raising her hand she spoke softly. "I live alone," she said, "they could stay with me…" her diffidence faded when Minako burst into another sunny smile, one that brought a comfortable smile to Orihime's face as well.

"That would be wonderful!" she accepted before Ami could decline. The bluenette was cautious. Things were moving to fast. She felt nervous, as if whatever was happening was not of their doing. Something didn't feel right. She kept her worries to herself, however, and optioned to observe quietly, not wanting to scare off their new comrades or to worry her own.

But frankly Minako was just not the camping type; she preferred a shower, a bed, and a toilet to a stream, a sleeping bag, and a hole. High maintenance or not, she considered it was simple human preferences.

Orihime clasped her hands together. "It will be like a sleepover every night!"

Minako clapped in delight and the other girl's sweatdropped. It was like the Usagi of a different dimension.

* * *

Ichigo frowned as he watched the girls settle into various positions in Orihime's living room. It wasn't as if they were completely suspicious, it was just that he didn't quite trust them. They had probably known them for a total of an hour and now they were shacked up in Orihime's house all buddy buddy with her and Rukia. _Girls,_ he mentally chastised.

He'd pulled Orihime aside before they went in and told her to call him if anything went amiss. Though she'd graciously accepted he watched her carefully from afar as she and the one named Makoto made some herbal tea. The back of her shirt was covered in blood, as was the hair underneath her ponytail. Her friends had questioned her about it, briefly worried about her wellbeing. Ichigo had overheard some explanation about a fall, a tree, and Orihime's healing ability.

The one's named Ami, Rei and Minako were positioned on the floor, Minako's hands placed gently on the smaller girl's shoulders. It was obvious the bone was out of the socket and as much as he really didn't want to, Ichigo kept his eyes glued to the process of the reset.

Rei held Ami's hand, squeezing it. "You'll be fine," she said, "you've had this happen numerous times."

Ami winced when she felt Minako apply a minute amount of pressure. "Yeah, that doesn't make it hurt any less." Dislocations were the absolute worst. She would never get used to the feeling of resetting a bone. "Just get it over with."

Rei and Minako made eye contact. The blonde nodded. "Ok, on the count of three, Ami," Rei began. The injured girl took a deep breath. "One—"

Minako shoved and the bone popped back into place, a sound drowned out by Ami's squeal of pain. "Good gracious, Minako! You…" Her face was flushed red and her eyes squeezed tight as she grabbed her shoulder and gritted her teeth. Minako and Rei were working hard not to laugh, very aware of how Ami wanted to curse the blonde but had prevented herself from doing so. Minako was happy she'd already had Ami wrap her ankle, otherwise the process could have been rough—that was Ami's sort of comeback.

Rukia cleared her throat. "Unfortunately during the day we attend school…" she said, watching for their reaction. "I'm not sure what you can do in your spare time."

Ichigo, too, watched them closely. Rei looked indifferent, Minako and Makoto gave each other a look before slightly cowering away, but Ami… her eyes lit up like Christmas lights despite the look of utter discomfort that had lingered there before. "School?" she said hopefully. "We'll be missing our classes!" she said studiously, raising a finger. "Seeing as how we have a few kinks to work out is it possible for us to attend?"

Minako gave her a sidelong look. "Weren't you the one who said that speed was of the essence? What's with going to school…?"

Ami blushed but her face was still confident. "It couldn't hurt," was all she would say.

Rukia looked slightly worried for a moment, wondering if she could possibly enroll, like she had herself, such a large group of girls.

"I think that's a good idea."

The room fell silent as all eyes turned to whom they least expected to utter those few words. Ichigo raised an eyebrow at their astonished eyes and shoved his hands almost roughly into his pockets. It honestly wasn't that he wanted to go to school with them or that he felt the need for them to continue with their education. It was the simple fact that he wanted to keep them away from Orihime's house by themselves and under a constant surveillance that he could monitor himself. To him it was purely a strategic move.

Rukia, though some hesitation ran through her, caught on. "Yeah, sure, I'll see what strings I can pull. Perhaps we can steal some uniforms on the way home?"

Ichigo nodded silently, pushed off from the wall, and walked towards the door with an off-handed "goodnight" over his shoulder. Rukia waved and followed, leaving one indifferent, one extremely happy, and two devastated girls to slink down onto Orihime's floor.

* * *

The next morning Orihime woke groggily to the incessant beeping of her alarm clock. Her tired hand reached out and fumbled with the notch to turn it off before she sat up in her warm bed. The covers fell from her shoulders and immediately she regretted letting them fall. A chilly draft hit her bare arms and she gave an involuntary shiver, slipping her legs over the side of her bed and letting her mouth open wide in a black-hole of a yawn. She relished in the patchwork sun patterns that sifted through her curtains and the silly shapes that attached themselves to her skin.

When Orihime heard the sound of soft snoring coming from her living room she became startled. She'd almost forgotten about their 'dimension hopping' new friends. Her slumber rattled her brain and for some reason she became confused. Walking down the small hallway she found herself in the company of three lightly slumbering females.

_Wait_, she recalled, _weren't there four?_

The beginning of the all too known screech of a teakettle brought her attention to the kitchen, where Makoto diffused the sound before it woke her companions. Turning to check if she'd disturbed anyone, Makoto noticed Orihime's sleep doused form and gave a sheepish smile.

"Sorry," she apologized, "did I wake you? I couldn't sleep so I got up early."

Orihime smiled, inevitably letting loose a quaint chuckle behind her hand. "No worries," she whispered back, "my home is your home. It's about time to get up anyway." She eyed Makoto as she watched the girl delicately pour two cups of tea. Giving a friendly smile she handed Orihime a cup. "Thank you," she said graciously, blowing slightly on the wispy wafts of steam that emanated from the surface of her tea.

She watched Makoto as she took a baby sip, testing the heat of the liquid, before turning to take a look at the rising sun. The candy glow of the sun's first, burnt rays melted the sheltered façade her new ally had positioned. It slithered through the blinds and latched securely onto her body from her shoulders up, highlighting soft skin and a pair of eyes so startlingly green Orihime swallowed harshly.

She turned towards the astonished girl and a beam of this revealing, penetrating light banded across Makoto's eyes, allowing Orihime to see the very makeup of her iris. The light delved deep beneath the eye and a color so astoundingly green and glass-like poured forth in a torrent.

Makoto took one of her hands and rubbed her own shoulder, taking another small sip. "What's wrong?" she asked, an embarrassed pink tinge to her cheeks.

Orihime blinked quickly, noticing only then that she'd been staring fervently. "Oh! N-nothing, the tea is just a bit hot," she said, giving a blow and a little wave above the opening of the cup for effect.

Makoto smiled as Orihime turned to wake up her friends.

As she did so Orihime's breath caught in her throat. The sizzling sun had reached their midst and illuminated a certain something Orihime couldn't put her finger on. Minako's hair stood out like spun gold in a mounted heap across her pillow. Her peaceful face made her seem younger than she truly was, pink lips open with a small strand of drool attached to her hand, which rested just beneath her face. Ami's hair lit up to reveal a swirling mass of ocean blue, a certain sparkle lighting it up to a turquoise tinge and her skin looked as soft as silk. Rei looked just as beautiful in sleep as she did when she was awake, her astounding ethereal exterior merely highlighted when her facial features were softened. Ebony hair blanketed her body as she softly snored.

Suddenly Orihime felt self-conscious. These girls had claimed that they were _princesses_. Surely the light had revealed the truth in their words. She turned around to tell Makoto that they should start to wake her friends if they were to make it on time to school when she caught the look that shaped the brunette's face. She looked shocked.

Orihime felt her face. "What is it?" she asked, confused.

Makoto just shook her head, but the surprised look still hadn't completely melted from her features. She gave Orihime a soft smile. "Nothing," she said gently, "it's just that when the sun hits you just right you look absolutely beautiful."

The softhearted girl blinked. Then, suddenly, she let loose a bark of laughter that caused the sleeping girls to stir. With a timid hand to her mouth she explained when Makoto gave her a questioning look.

"I was just thinking the same about you."

At Makoto's quiet giggle it was then that Orihime knew that Ichigo had to be wrong, that his prolonging precautions, wanting to keep a perpetual eye on them absolutely HAD to be unnecessary. There was no way these people could be any more than lost girls, searching to rectify a tough position at home. He had to be wrong…_had_ to be.

* * *

Ichigo had barely slept that night. At first his unremitting worry over Orihime's safety had him riled through the night but chastising yet calming words from Rukia in his closet allowed him to fall into a restless slumber.

His dream was strange. First he'd dreamt of Ami, after careful thought in the morning he believed this was because he got the best first impression of her over the other three. She was kind and sensible. His mind's eye, however, was not able to form a clear picture of her in his dream; it was more a surging picture, wave after wave of water. It's pulse was calm, however, and he felt a certain calmness with her, a level headed sense that made Ichigo feel like he could talk to the bluenette about his deepest secrets.

Second he'd dreamed of Minako. The picture his mind painted of her was a swirling patch of sun, only few shadowed entrapments marring her dainty representation. The light was her, the shadows her faults, those things she hid from everyone else. The sunlight, however, almost always nearly overpowered the shadows and her bubbly nature made Ichigo believe that they would become fast friends, despite whatever walls he may put up.

The last two held completely different meanings, much less friendly and much more dangerous.

He'd dreamt of Rei next, but the fiery passion she exuded didn't stimulate a friendly nature within Ichigo, but neither was it a negative reaction. She was a rippling fire, a warmth that inspired not hate, not love, but a deep _desire_ inside. This was not something Ichigo liked, was not a feeling he was used to harboring. Temptation was her key, and she was someone Ichigo would have to stay away from, his attraction to her could only lead down a path he needed direly to stray from.

The last he'd dreamt of was Makoto. His mind's eye draped her in a tempestuous storm, a dangerous, unsteady assailment of the unknown. For some reason, unfamiliar to him, he absolutely could not stand it. There was a hearty ache that emanated from it that kept him on his toes and caused the hair to rise on his arms. His mind railed against her, warned his body to stay away from one as erratic as her. _She_ was the one he'd have to protect his comrades from, protect his friends from. And even, perhaps, her own.

* * *

Ishida had to try hard, _very_ hard, not to laugh at their situation. Rukia had managed to snag some uniforms the night before and had contacted him, letting him know that the four girls would be attending their class the next day. The spectacle before him had just made it all worthwhile. Using her Chappy tools, Rukia had managed to perform the same magic on the teacher as she had for herself and thus, nobody but Sado was surprised to see them there.

Ami stood beaming, looking eager to be in school. He nodded. She should be, education was important. The uniform fit her just right and she held her books proudly to her chest, glasses sticking precisely to her nose. Being a little taller than Ami, Minako's uniform was just a tad bit small for her but she used it to her advantage. Somewhat. She stood proud, almost gloatingly beautiful. Makoto's problem was much more interesting. Being nearly half a head above Minako, her uniform was _much_ too small for her. Her face was perpetually red and she kept trying to pull down the skirt, which revealed an awful lot of her lengthy legs.

And then his eyes reached Rei. She wasn't even paying attention to the rest of the class, marveling at her beauty. Her eyes remained steadfast on him, glaring daggers his way. Her mouth was pressed into a furious line and her arms were crossed snugly over her chest.

He grinned and crossed his arms in response. Her glare hardened. His grin expanded.


	5. If You Can't Do It Your Way

**JPandS: **I'm so glad you enjoyed the chapter! Yeah, I added the uniform part just for a little reprieve in the seriousness and to add a touch of silliness. I'm completely enamored with Ichigo's tough man exterior and marshmallow interior. It definitely is and will be a huge component to the story. I'm trying to keep everyone pretty rational haha, even though I gave myself some leeway in this chapter I think. The dream and his strange feelings towards the girls will come up way more and be explained later—I hope you can bear with me until my lazy ass reveals its nature haha. I'm so glad you liked Minako most. I think it's no secret that Makoto is my favorite character so I kind of try to give her important roles but play down her frequency—I wanna keep everything even. So when you say you liked Minako most that makes me happy! Thanks for the review again :)

**Sadekuuro**: No worries at all! I'm just relieved when anyone reviews at any point haha. Any kind of feedback is what I look forward to—and trust me, I understand about school. I'm glad you're finding it interesting. I have some fun stuff planned for future chapters once I get done editing. Thank you for your kind words and your review!

**darkmistressofsilence92**: Well I'm glad you reread it! It makes me so happy to hear you call it a great fic. I really appreciate it. Thank you for your review :)

* * *

**Ascension**

**Chapter 5: **If You Can't do it Your Way…

Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon or Bleach.

"So," Ichigo began, staring out at his new 'comrades'. It was lunchtime now and they'd managed to secure their usual empty spot on the roof. As clandestine as their lunch circle was he was happy that the roof actually completely was vacated.

The girls looked at him expectantly in different shades of moods. Rei looked bored and as if she wished he would just get on with it already. Ami looked politely alert, looking him dead in the eye with her head cocked slightly. Makoto looked tired with her head propped up on her hand though interested in what he was about to say. Minako…wasn't really paying attention at all. She was lying down with her hands behind her head and her legs crossed, a small smile gracing her features as she relished in the sun.

Ami raised an eyebrow, confused. "So," she repeated.

Ichigo frowned. "So what does your presence in our dimension do to the whole space/time continuum thing?"

Rei managed to look partially impressed before she gave a roll of her eyes and gracefully lowered herself to the roof in a position similar to Minako's. "It's not what did _we_ do to the whole space/time continuum, it's what did that _man _do to the whole space/time continuum by trying to take the crystal," she corrected, her face sporting a frown instead of Minako's blissful smile.

Ichigo rolled his eyes. "Whatever," he said, watching her as she placed her arms behind her head. He was suddenly reminded of his dream and when he felt a small heat rise to his cheeks that the sun wasn't accountable for he turned away. He made eye contact with Ami instead. "Well?" he asked, sure that her answer would be more eloquent than her friend's.

Ami pushed her glasses up her nose. "Everything has changed," she said, looking him dead in the eye. He stared back curiously. "Since our monsters are long gone, us leaving completely changes what will happen at home, but hopefully only in rudimentary occurrences and daily life." At the circle's questioning look Ami provided an example. "You know, I don't bump into this man here, he makes his train instead of missing it, finds his wife cheating…that sort of thing." She looked out past the fence and over the roof's edge. She gave a grim expression and made eye contact with Makoto, the only one of her friends whose eyes were open. "That is, unless we fail."

Makoto looked down and frowned, fidgeting around to try and sit comfortably without showing her underwear. She huffed angrily for a moment, cursing whoever made the skirts so damn short. Eventually she settled for sitting on her knees. "We won't," she murmured, brushing dust from her hands. "We just have to find some way to activate our powers."

She heard Rei snort behind her and turned to give the girl a questioning eye. Rei's eyes remained shut but she grumbled softly about someone trying futilely to play Superman. Makoto shook her head and rolled her eyes.

Nobody noticed Minako's once blissful smile discreetly fade into a thinking frown.

Ami cleared her throat. "Your future, on the other hand," she continued as if there had been no interruption, "has been completely changed."

"Why is that?" Rukia asked, not sure how the young girl was so well versed in time and space. And while the bluenette's perceptiveness made sense, Rukia understood that nothing was for certain.

"We're parasites."

Ichigo's mind zeroed in on her words, finally beginning to unravel the mystery of the effect of their existence in his dimension. "Parasites," he parroted. "You've left holes in your own dimensions by leaving but have become foreign agents in ours."

Ishida gave him a sidelong glance before facing Ami. "So you're like a virus here."

"Maybe something like that," she said, still only dealing projections of what she thought their predicament was. "I have a feeling that if we don't get our job done fast, your dimension is going to try and expel us."

Rei popped one eye open. "As in toss us out?"

"Yeah…" Ami mumbled. "I'm not really sure what's going to happen. But I just have a gut feeling that if we exist here too long things will start to go haywire."

"And how long is too long?" Orihime asked. She'd remained relatively quiet during their discussion because of her inability to provide secondary input. Orihime was not knowledgeable about the effects of dimension hopping, but her curiosity had been piqued. She wanted to say something to them about how she'd found Makoto, the strange spellbound feeling that had moved her feet and draped her mind, and the way that the birds had made her feel dread. Feeling timid, however, Orihime opted to maybe speak with Ichigo or Rukia in private.

Ami shrugged. "Maybe a couple of months at most, I don't really know." She unwrapped her sandwich, just then remembering that perhaps she should take a break from talking and actually eat her lunch. "Even still I don't think we should stay that long. Prolonged presence could potentially harm your dimension, I think." She took a bite and chewed for a moment, uncomfortable with the present silence. Everyone looked at her to continue. She swallowed and prepared to throw out more guesses when someone else spoke up.

"I think our future has already been drastically changed." All eyes turned to Ishida. "You've pulled all of us away from whatever may have happened in our future. Whatever we may have resolved or lost is gone. Our means and our ends have been altered." He looked to his original comrades.

Rei, who still had her eyes closed, voiced a question. "So are you saying that you could have had a some big be-all, end-all fight with someone but because we've showed up that's never going to happen?"

"I think that's what he's getting at," Ami said. She looked to Ishida for approval and he nodded.

Just then Minako shot up from her once restful position on the roof, a gasp worthy of years of oxygen accompanying her. Her eyes were wide and almost unseeing as her mouth hung slightly open.

Makoto grabbed her shoulder, worried, and even Rei dared to open an eye once again. "Minako!" the brunette cried. "What happened, what's wrong?"

She blinked, still staring out into nothingness. "I think I've had a cacophony," she deadpanned.

Ishida looked at his own companions, confused. "What does that mean?" he asked, restraining himself from making fun of her.

"Did you mean epiphany, Minako?" Ami asked as Makoto let go of her shoulders, the worry dissipating.

"Is that when you have, like," she waved her hands around her head, "a sudden realization?"

Ami giggled. "Yes."

"Then yeah, I had one of those," she said, her eyes finally coming around to make contact with the people that surrounded her.

When she had yet to explain precisely _what_ her so-called epiphany had been, Rei frowned in annoyance. "Well," she said, "spit it out already, what was it?"

"Oh, right!" Minako held up a finger and smiled. "Guys," she said, looking to her best friends and her new friends. "I think I've figured out a way through our power problems."

All ears perked and those who'd been daydreaming before became attentive. Even Rei sat up from her position on the ground to give Minako an interested look. The blonde grinned, noticing how all of the attention was on her. In a spurt of pure cleverness she leaned over and delicately and swiftly took Ami's glasses from her nose.

"Oh!" the bluenette cried, reaching out for them.

Minako placed them on her own eyes and held up a finger, imitating Ami's voice when she was explaining something. "It came actually from something we'd articulated last night," she said, clearing her throat. "I surmise it was something along the lines of, "back home we use instruments to channel our power"," she said, using a deep voice strangely enough to imitate herself.

"Yeah, what about it?" Ichigo asked, taking a sip from his juice box.

Minako beamed that disarming smile again and pushed the glasses farther up on her nose. "Well, then I remembered that you," she said, pointing to Ichigo, "killed that giant monster thingy—"

"A Hollow," the five of them chorused, correcting her.

"Right, the Hollow, with a giant sword thingy—"

"A Zanpakuto," they corrected again.

"Yeah, that."

Everyone waited for Minako to continue but she just sat there with her charming smile as if she'd solved the hardest problem in math class.

Rei gave her a poke to see if she was for real. "And that was the extent of your epiphany?" she asked sourly.

"Oh no," Minako said, shaking her head and crossing her arms. "The real epiphany is that all we have to do is get us one of those Zanpa-whatever's to channel our power through and voila! We're set!"

Ami's eyes shot into her hairline and the others looked to Minako in a new regard. The blue haired girl shook her head in disbelief. "You know what, Minako, you may just be on to something," she said, putting a finger to her lip and looking contemplative.

Rei looked at her incredulously. "Who'd have thought that was going to come out of _your_ mouth?" she murmured as the blonde turned and glared at her.

Before she could say anything, however, Makoto gave her a firm punch to the shoulder. "I knew you had it in you, Mina-chan!" she said as Minako gave her a wary eye and an unsure smile, rubbing her arm.

"I appreciate the support, Mako-chan, but the punch will leave me a bruise the color of Rei's eyes."

Makoto put her hand behind her head and apologized sheepishly as Rei glared daggers in Minako's direction. "Are you saying my eyes are the color of bruises, Minako?"

Just as Minako opened her mouth to smartly respond, Ami nabbed her glasses from the bridge of her nose. The blonde gave a weak "hey!" but sobered up when Ami placed them on her nose and said, "_Enough_, you guys."

Rei raised an eyebrow. "Who died and made you mom?" she mumbled childishly.

Ami stuck her nose in the air proudly and crossed her arms over her chest, deciding not to feel hurt by Rei's caustic words. Ignoring the fiery Miko, she turned to Rukia and asked, "is it possible for us to receive one of these Zanpakuto?"

Rukia was silent for a moment, a hesitant finger placed to her lips as she racked her brain for a way to explain the complicated predicament. "Is it possible?" she asked rhetorically, "I'd say so. Is it easy? I wouldn't say so."

Makoto looked slightly confused. "Then how would we acquire one?"

Rukia started to say something but stopped, her explanation caught in her throat. She shook her head slightly, that one piece of hair falling back into her eyes. She pushed it away and looked up to the four expectant girls in front of her. "It would be very difficult…"

Ichigo turned to her, his mind whizzing back to when he first held a Zanpakuto. "Rukia…" he said softly, suddenly overtaken by an appreciation for how she'd helped saved his family once again. "It would be dangerous to perform a transfer of power."

Rukia shook her head. "No, I know that. I'm just trying to think. There are only limited options if even possible," she responded, looking from her orange haired friend to the girls once again.

"Why is it so difficult?" Rei asked. "Aren't they just swords?"

Rukia's expression turned grim as she shook her head. "No. No, a Zanpakuto is a partial manifestation of the soul."

Ami looked intrigued. "The soul?" she asked, her thinking visage falling into place. "Are you saying that a Zanpakuto is more of an entity than a tangible object?"

Rukia nodded. "My Zanpakuto Sode no Shirayuki is a part of my soul. It has its own spirit, of course, but it still has a part of me within it." Rukia looked very worried for a moment and the hope growing within Minako at her genius discovery started to dwindle away. "But that took years of training."

Ichigo looked down to her. "But I—"

Rukia held up her hand, silencing him. "You were an exception, Ichigo. Your reiryoku is insurmountable. I hate to admit it but what you've achieved is quite extraordinary." The orange haired youth began to look embarrassed. "Perhaps we should take them to Urahara. Maybe he'll know what to do."

Ichigo nodded.

Minako looked to her friends, a confused expression plastered to her face. "Urahara?" she asked.

* * *

Ami felt extremely uncomfortable. She tried to remain calm, to keep the blush from rising to her cheeks or her eyes from making contact with another pair. She kept them glued to her hands, which were folded neatly in her lap. She could tell Rei was getting annoyed as well from her fidgeting beside her. The raven-haired girl couldn't keep her irritation welled within her anymore.

"Well say something," she blurted sharply, folding her arms over her chest and frowning with a barely contained annoyance.

Their audience jumped for a moment as if roused from a sleepy state. Around the small table Urahara, Tessai, Ururu, and Jinta were currently staring curiously at the four girls in front of them. Jinta looked doubtful, as if the four in front of them were clinically insane. Tessai looked worried, as did Ururu. Kiske Urahara on the other hand, looked thoroughly interested.

"A different _dimension_?" he said breathily, mouth open like an astonished child. How impossible! How had these girls crossed through from another dimension? He wouldn't have believed them if…

Urahara sat up straight, the near drool of excitement that dribbled from his surprised mouth vanishing as he became serious. That half knowing smirk, however, replaced it as he gave the girls an appraising glance. The raven haired one looked nearly about to loose it (Urahara briefly thought such an angered face was quite unbecoming of such an astonishingly beautiful girl), the blue haired girl looked embarrassed with her downcast eyes, the blonde girl looked quite cheery, and the brunette merely looked tired.

Rei sighed. "Look, this is a waste of our time," she said, standing and placing her hands on her hips. "I don't know why we're meddling around here with people who think we're crazy when someone is trying to take the crystal from Usagi and potentially destroy our—"

"Rei please…" Ami pleaded softly, glancing up desperately at her unrestrained friend.

Urahara looked, if at all possible, even more interested. "Who said I didn't believe you?" he questioned as Rei's hands fell from her waist. She gave him a careful look before slowly lowering herself back to the ground. She looked to her left to see her other two friends staring at her with raised eyebrows and immediately felt slightly embarrassed.

"W-well you all just kept staring at us and not saying anything," she said in rebuttal.

Urahara leaned forward, not even listening to her explanation. His curiosity was tickled. "You say you have powers?" he asked, watching as the girls slightly tensed. He nodded slightly to himself, thinking that they were not used to sharing such information and with a smirk he thought of how telling bodily quirks were.

"We do," Minako answered hesitantly.

Urahara put a finger to his chin. "What are they?"

Ami cleared her throat. "I can control water and turn it into ice."

"Fire," was all Rei would say.

"I am the Senshi of Love and Beauty!" Minako announced as she winked and gave him a thumbs up. Urahara looked surprised.

"Love and beauty?" he questioned, confused as to how those could be transferred into powers. "Do you make people fall in love?"

Minako blinked. "Well no," she answered, putting a finger to her chin. "I guess I have more of an affinity for light." Urahara nodded and turned towards the last girl.

Makoto gave a nonchalant, two-fingered wave, not even looking up to make eye contact. "Nature and lightning."

"Two?" Urahara questioned, looking towards her other comrades. "Why does she have two such different ones?"

They all looked at each other, a distinct bewilderment arising on their faces. Makoto shrugged slowly, looking from her friends to the man in the hat. "I'm not really sure."

Urahara leaned back, encapsulated in a bubble of wonder and interest. "This is quite a development you've brought to me, Rukia," he said, glancing at the girl out of the corner of his eye. She leveled with him with an austere look in return.

"Is it possible for them to acquire Zanpakuto's?" she asked, eager for an answer. Urahara immediately shook his head and her heart sank. "No?"

"Absolutely not," Urahara answered and watched as the girls' faces fell. "It would be nearly impossible for them to acquire something in our dimension that didn't previously exist in their own."

Minako felt her heart sink into the depths of her stomach. She'd felt so sure, so positive that this was going to work. To hear that it was undoubtedly impossible made any feeling of positivity that she'd retained before coming to the shop fade with her hope. "Then what are we supposed to do?"

"Well," Urahara began, "just because you can't summon a Zanpakuto doesn't mean you can't use a katana as a medium."

"For our powers?" Makoto asked, now curious.

Urahara nodded. "Rukia was right. You all don't have any reiryoku, thus it would be impossible for you to even dream of developing a Zanpakuto." His eyes squinted. "But you do have power, it's just difficult to…put a finger on."

Ichigo looked up to Urahara, his dream coming into his head. He watched, confused as the shop owner made brief eye contact with him before looking back to the worried girls in front of him.

"In fact," Urahara continued with a mysterious smirk, "it's nearly undetectable."

Ishida nodded. "I noticed that last night," he said. "Only when you told me you had powers and I felt your body heat to extreme measures…" he glanced at Rei who glared back at him, "…only then did I notice something there—barely there."

"Are you saying that you can only sense our powers if we tell you?" Makoto asked, curious as to what the two were getting at.

Urahara shook his head. "Not necessarily. But one would only be able to sense you if…they were looking to sense you."

It was as if a light bulb went on over Ami's head. "And since nobody but you guys knows that we're here…" she started, eyes widening and a smile coming to her once hopeless features.

Urahara nodded. "Precisely," he said, giving her a proud nod, "no one will ever suspect you coming."

Rei looked confused. "So we're like an undetectable surprise attack?"

Urahara gave a chuckle. "For those highly aware of power you'd be much less noticeable than reiryoku, but you would still be noticeable. In general, however, yes. More or less."

Ichigo looked revitalized. "This could be a huge benefit for us," he said, leaning towards Urahara. "If barely anyone can sense them we could have the upper hand in—"

"If," Ami interrupted him, "we can find a way to even access our powers."

Urahara looked serious again. "Which brings me back to where we were. You said that you used wands to access your power?" At their nod he asked another question. "Did you just carry them around at all times?"

Minako shook her head. "Nope, we usually just kind of…" Minako flicked her wrist and lifted her arm into the air, the fluid motion so automatic. Her hand fell and she shrugged her shoulders. "That's just kind of how it works."

"Fascinating," Urahara mumbled, a hand to his chin once again. "Perhaps all you really need _are_ blank katanas to channel your powers through."

Makoto raised her hand. "Um, two problems. One; we don't know how access our powers and two; none of us know how to use a sword."

Urahara gave her that smug smirk. "Two answers," he said in return. "One, you already _do_ know how to access your powers. You said that when you're put in situations which foster extreme emotions or adrenaline, your powers will surface. The proof is you," he said, pointing to Rei. "Ishida said that when he rescued you, your body was extremely hot to the touch. I'm assuming, then, that it's possible to access your powers by putting you in extremely dangerous situations."

Ami was astounded at his reasoning. He seemed so sure of himself and so knowledgeable about something he had only heard of or known for close to an hour.

"Answer to question two," Urahara continued, "is quite easy." He pointed a finger to Ichigo and a finger to Rukia. "Training!" he smiled.

Rei looked unconvinced. "Two of them to four of us with limited time?" she said skeptically.

"Solvable," Urahara shrugged. "To teach you to use the katanas, Rukia, Ichigo, Ururu and I will help. To access your powers…" Urahara grinned, "We all will help."

* * *

Rei was skeptical. They all now sat around Orihime's floor with different extremes of emotion set to their faces. "So what do we do now?" she asked, not really sure of how this was going to work. They'd known each other for approximately two days and already they were formulating preparations for battle.

After a moment of silence Rukia seemed to be the only one willing to speak. "I'm not quite sure. Perhaps we'll go to Seireitei…"

Ichigo snorted and she glared at him. "Is that really such a good idea? We all know how suspicious the Gotei 13 is. They might think you all are aliens trying to take over the world."

"But we need their help, Ichigo, we can't do this on our own," came Orihime's soft voice as she and Makoto entered the room bearing treys with tea. The group gathered around and filled steamy cups before settling in and trying to once again focus on outcomes.

The voices drained away for Ichigo, however, as the emotions he felt from his dream came hurdling at him full force. It was almost as if a switch had been turned on, like a lamp finally lit flooding the room with light. His cup halted inches from his lips as Rukia's calculating voice became muted. Everything around him faded away as he tried to focus on not completely obliterating Orihime's ceramic cup in his hands. It was as if every scent, every movement excited a tingling sensation. They were not titillating sensations, however but quite the contrary. His very being felt drawn in four directions.

They continued with their conversation, unaware of his internal plight and Ichigo felt only partially relieved. He looked towards Ami, her eyes seated on Ishida as he spoke. He felt the need to pull her aside, to tell her everything about himself, to ask for her advice. These urges, however, he pushed harshly away, knowing that he _didn't_ like to share his emotions and he was far less inclined to share them with someone he barely knew. And yet here he was, feeling a connection so deep with this blue haired girl that it stirred something within him.

He blinked his eyes fiercely, trying to escape the feeling and turned hopefully to Minako. Suddenly he felt at ease, as if he wanted _her_ to tell him all of her worries. A blanket of calmness overcame him for a split second before he felt his mind pulled away. He tried to refuse it, to keep his eyes trained only on the sunny girl as she was speaking (though her words were lost to him) but he couldn't fight it.

Slowly and regrettably Ichigo turned his eyes (less of his own accord) towards Rei. He felt a churn in his chest and closed his eyes, not willing to look at her while his body harbored such extreme emotions. He didn't want to feel this, he didn't want these emotions coming over him. His anger began to grow and he clenched the teacup tightly in his hand again. This time, however, he could not restrain himself and he felt the cup began to crack in his palm. He was on the brink, tinkering dangerously around the edge—

"Would you like more tea?"

The cup snapped in his hand, sending hot liquid onto his shirt. Ichigo, who'd been surprised by the voice behind him and shaken from trying to emotionally constrain himself, leapt from the chair. The tempestuousness of the effect she had on him hit full force and his fists gripped tightly at his sides. His friends were watching him carefully, wary of any movement he made and just as confused as the girls sitting around the room.

Makoto's eyes were wide, her confusion the most evident as she took a step back from him, not so much in fear, but in an effort to let him regain himself and give him some space. Something was obviously bothering him.

All he felt was a flurry of an untamed…_something_. If this was the inherent power that Urahara had spoken of then perhaps she did not need to be trained. He glared down at her, standing only a few inches shorter than himself, before turning and stalking moodily out the door.

Rukia watched carefully, a finger to her lips as Orihime cried for Ichigo to return. She'd been watching him for the past couple of minutes, the diverse emotions that pedaled through his eyes enough to reveal that there was something different that he was feeling from each of the now bewildered girls. He'd looked at Ami and Minako like sisters, his eyes holding that particular caring and protective appearance. But he'd almost blushed when he'd looked at Rei and glared at Makoto as if she were an enemy.

She was surprised at how well the girls took it, however, when Makoto turned to the group, holding up the teakettle with a raised eyebrow and said, "Would anybody _else_ like more tea?"


	6. Exams of Doubt

**Sadekuuro:** Yep! It's not going to be too unconventional this time but I'll let you in on a little secret—it will be far more unconventional when they all get to Soul Society :D Thank you for your review, I really appreciate it. And thanks for sticking with me for the whole story! _Finally_ I'll be putting out a new chapter instead of an edited one next time :)

**JPandS**: Oh don't get me wrong, I love stories heavy with Makoto favoritism haha, I used to write a ton of them myself under other pennames. But then I started to _really_ get into the other characters and my favorite thing didn't become Makoto and her strife and achievements but the relationship between (most usually) the five of them—which I think is evidenced by this story and **Toxic** haha. Plus I LOVE unconventional pairings (*cough*Mianko/WuFei*cough*). Keep an eye out for Ami's pairing in this story, I'm SO excited for it hahaha. I'm glad you found it funny! I'm so bad at writing humor but I'm glad it got across. And I totally agree—Urahara is so awesome, I feel like he's the Pluto of the Bleach world, he knows everything. Yeah, Ichigo's dreams are actually a huge part of the story but the true reason for them won't come out until waaay later so hold onto your hat hehe. Thank you again for your review it is most appreciated as always, my friend.

**AN: **Hi! Ok, so the time is almost here. This is the last chapter that I've already put out and have edited. After this update it will all be new material! Hooray! We've still got a ways to go, don't you fret, there is much more story to be had. I hope some more of you will review, I'm really looking for some feedback on how people are liking or disliking the story so that I can add more of the good stuff and take out the bad. And for those of you who love the romantic stuff don't worry, that'll be coming in the near future :) I'd also like to know how far some of you are in Bleach. I've read up to the most current issue and was thinking of incorporating some of the new stuff—but I don't want to ruin it for people. Let me know, thanks for reading!

* * *

**Ascension**

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters

**Chapter Six**: Exams of doubt

Mamoru smiled at the woman he knew would one day be his future wife. She didn't notice his loving look because her eyes were far too focused on the delicious gourmet food that had been placed in front of her. With all of the strange occurrences that had progressed over the past couple of days he decided that a soothing dinner date was optimal. She seemed better, though obviously still shaken by the second dream she'd had. Instead of instantly gobbling up her food, like she usually did no matter the circumstances, she picked at it for a bit before placing a small piece into her mouth. She swallowed and looked up, finally noticing his look and returning it with a soft one of her own.

"Are you not hungry?" she asked, gesturing to his untouched dinner.

Mamoru looked down, quite unaware that he hadn't even touched his food. He looked back up and smiled. "I am," he said, taking her hand from across the table, "but you looked far more appetizing than my own food."

Usagi let loose a surprised laugh, one of the only genuine ones he'd heard in awhile. Her cheeks became red, flushed with a blush as she shook her head. "Mamo-chan, you're such a schmoozer," she teased, giggling behind her hand in a comely manner.

His eyes remained steadfast on her form, his lips frozen in a tepid smile but his mind whirred about a singular dilemma. His purpose for bringing her out to dinner was to force Usagi's lamentation over letting her friends leave to rescind to the back of her mind. He wanted her to look forward and work hard to keep their world safe from within. However, in doing so he needed to be able to talk to her about things that she obviously didn't desire to discuss. Though his intent, at first, was a medium through which he wished she would relax, he couldn't help the urge that burned in his chest to ask her about her dreams. The arousal of her depression, however, he knew would be the repercussion. She watched him carefully, quite aware that something was wrong as Mamoru battled his desires. Her happiness versus her safety. While the former was vitally important, he figured that without the latter there was no happiness.

When he didn't speak for a while, Usagi knew what plagued his thoughts. Her grip on his hand tightened and the uncertain smile that'd been fixed to his lips fell to a curious frown. Her jovial demeanor had diminished and he almost physically felt her serious carriage as she braced herself. "Just say what you want to say, Mamoru," she deadpanned.

He nodded, knowing that she'd caught him and he didn't want to bother wasting the chance. "Have you ever learned Spanish, Usako?" he asked, watching as her brow wrinkled.

She shook her head. "No, never," was her reply. "Why do you ask?" Mamoru could tell based off of her perplexed look that she was wondering just why that was such a difficult question to ask.

He sighed. "In your dreams you've been saying words in Spanish," he responded, watching as her curiosity piqued before falling behind a more muted façade. She looked away and her grip on his hand alleviated. Mamoru cursed his overeager ambition as her posture slumped lower and her once powerful look became timid and uncertain. Before she could fold onto herself and close off to him completely, Mamoru grasped her hand reassuringly. "Usagi, I know I don't have to feed you soothing reaffirmations that your friends will be alright or that you made the right decisions. Whether you're mentally cognizant of the fact or not, you know deep down that things will work out and you did." He could see the tears building in her eyes, her blue orbs plastered to the ugly restaurant carpet. But her fingers laced themselves with his, her own physical response to his words, encouraging him to continue.

"You need to face these dreams head on. Learn what you can about this man; what is his name, how does he know about you or our friends, what does he want?"

He wasn't sure why but Mamoru's skin crawled with consternation when Usagi looked up from the floor. Her eyes were angry; not towards him, he was sure of that, but her face had become encased in a moderate fury towards the man who invaded her mind. He'd never seen her so disturbed as she opened her lips and spoke. Her voice was low but cold enough to send chills through his body, to raise the hair on his arms.

"Sosuke Aizen, 12 years ago, and my crystal."

* * *

The evening was chilly for a summer's night and Ichigo's hands were shoved haphazardly into the pockets of his long pants. He'd gone for a lone walk, figuring some time to incorporate physical movement with his mind's mental uproar would settle the uncomfortable fury that had moved into his muscles. His posture was slouched, head bent low as his eyes bore deeply into the ground with frustration. His brain simply didn't quite know how to wrap itself around the recent developments. Sure he was able to accept the fact that he'd procured some sort of worthiness in a world where monsters ate souls and he could see spirits and whatnot. But people traveling from another dimension? The absurdity in that question alone made him purse his lips and run tired fingers through his spiky orange hair. Not only did these women claim to hail from a different dimension but they allegedly harbored magical powers festering untapped within their bodies. Ichigo almost wanted to laugh. He felt like some cruel hand of fate had painted him on the pages of a poorly written manga.

What he needed to figure out and solve was why the inexplicable emotions that raged through his body around those girls were so strong. Why did they even occur? Why was he so comfortable around two of them and so unbelievably uncomfortable around the other two? Ichigo kicked a crumpled can that happened across his path and watched as it skittered away from his foot. It slid noisily down the street until it came to a jolting stop beneath a feminine, black shoe. His eyes followed the shoe up the body of one Kuchiki Rukia, whose face sported a distasteful frown. Her arms were placed heavily on her hips and in one swift movement she kicked the can back at his face.

Instinctually Ichigo ducked with his hands on his head and watched behind him as the can smashed harshly into the brick façade of a building. His head snapped back to face her full of wonderment and irritation. "What the hell was that for?!"

"What is your problem, Ichigo?" she quipped back, bringing her hands from her hips to fold tightly across her chest.

Ichigo stood straight and turned his eyes away from her. Rukia had an uncanny ability to read him no matter what turmoil tumbled through his head. He liked it and hated at the same time; on one hand, it was nice to know she cared so much, but on the other it was damn annoying that she could basically read him like an open book. "I don't know what you're talking about," he muttered almost dejectedly.

Rukia rolled her eyes. "Oh please don't play that card you sulky little boy." Ichigo looked up angrily to retort but Rukia continued. "Do you think I'm so unobservant that I haven't seen the way you've been looking at those girls?"

Ichigo gave her a sly look. "Jealous much?"

Rukia stomped quickly over to his vicinity and hit him hard over the head. "Not if the prize is you, you dimwit!" Ichigo glared at her and rubbed the back of his head. Her face and voice softened. "Plus, I'm trying to be serious here. Your focus is vital in this hectic situation. I just can't have you snapping on any whim."

Ichigo refused to relent his clutch on his juvenile attitude, despite the more cautionary and serious tone she'd undertaken. "What are you, my boss or something?" he retorted.

The seriousness and worry Rukia had conveyed melted into a more annoyed and angry look. "Would you grow up?" she snapped, placing her hands on his shoulders and giving him a hearty shake. Still he wouldn't look at her. "Stop being so damn stubborn and tell me what's wrong!"

"It's nothing, Rukia," she said, shrugging her hands off his shoulders gently enough to communicate that he wasn't angry with her but didn't want to talk about it. He kept his eyes plastered down the street, not sure he really wanted to see the disappointment he knew was painted all across her face.

Sure enough she let out a tsk of displeasure. "Fine," she replied, voice terse. Her next words were like darts dipped in poison—aimed in his direction and prepared to sting, but solely used for intimidating measures. "But make sure you help us train them. Whether you know it or not they're here to save this and their own dimension. Not only that, they're here to save this city, these people, your friends…and your family."

Ichigo spared her a quick glance before looking back down the street.

Rukia continued. "If I remember correctly you went through a whole lot of trouble to help me after I saved your family."

"That was different," Ichigo said quickly, shaking his head.

"How so?" Rukia asked.

Ichigo sighed. "You nearly gave up your life. You gave me your power. Respect and merit are given where they're deserved." He finally turned to her. "Do you see how lenient we're being? Why? Why are we helping them with open arms when we know _nothing_ for sure? Who says they're not the enemy?" He took his hands out of his pockets and looked and them, lips pressed together tightly. When he spoke it was almost like a secret he was telling her, his voice low enough that Rukia actually had to concentrate just to hear him. "Do you know how much I worry about Orihime at night because of them?"

Rukia watched him carefully. Sure, she'd been mulling over the same questions since these four strange women happened across them. But her solution had been a little different. "Believe it or not I have an answer to each of those questions."

Ichigo looked to her skeptically from his hands, slipping them back into his pockets slowly. He raised an eyebrow, signaling for her to continue.

"We're lenient, Ichigo, because we're the good guys. We care enough to trust those who come to us with a problem. It's what we do. We're not blindly lenient, though." Rukia smirked. "I'll trust them until they betray that trust. Plus we're always watching, always careful. If we don't reveal too much about what we can do and who we are then we keep the upper hand. You know what they say, keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer." Rukia shook her head. "But I'd rather see the good in people before the bad. Not to mention I kept an eye on Orihime last night just to make sure, I worried about her too."

Ichigo's sheer surprise at her words melted into an appreciated smile.

"I'll let you figure your stuff out on your own, but you need to sort it out. And soon." And with those parting words Rukia turned and walked briskly away. Ichigo watched her go, brain sinking into frustration with every meter she put between them. He knew she was right, everything she said made perfect sense. It was just…

"Rukia!"

She turned around quickly, eyes watching him expectantly.

"I'll help train them." He didn't mean to wipe the building smirk off of her lips but he continued. "Just don't let me work with the brown haired one." She looked at him questioningly and Ichigo frowned. If they were supposed to become a team with these girls he didn't want to ruin the relationship before it even started. "I'm not sure I'd be able to hold back."

He couldn't read her expression, standing so far away, but he could tell it had hardened from the worried one it'd been before. Her head bobbed slowly in a nod before she turned and continued out of his sight.

After she disappeared Ichigo continued on his walk slowly and alone.

* * *

The next day Makoto couldn't help but feel left out. She could feel the budding animosity between her and the orange haired kid, Ichigo, ever since he'd stormed out the night before. Nobody talked about the incident but Makoto was sure it was lurking somewhere in the back of their minds. How he'd managed to garner enough reason to dislike her already irked the brunette. She was used to people hating her, that was for sure, but usually it was because she'd beaten them up or given them a black eye or something. For someone to outright despise her for no legitimate reason made her temper rise. It didn't help that her mounting frustration increased with every look of rancor he slipped her way.

She felt awkward around the group now because he seemed like such a genuine guy. He seemed to take quite well to Ami and Minako, trying to work up conversations with them and looking interested when they responded to one of his questions. He was shy around Rei, that much was obvious, but she didn't seem to care too much about getting to know him seeing as how she and that Ishida kid bickered like it was their job.

What made it even more awkward was the fact that everyone could feel the palpable tension between her and Ichigo. An unexplained tension, yet nearly tangible nonetheless.

She bumbled behind the group silently; Ami, Ichigo, and Minako were talking in the front. Rei and Ishida fought heatedly over the actual color of water—Rei insisted that it was blue since in mass quantities that's what appeared, while Ishida argued that phenomenon's like Jamaica's Black River clearly defied her logic. Behind them Rukia, Sado, and Orihime laughed about something that had occurred in class that day. Makoto, using the excuse that she needed to tie her shoe, had fallen behind the entire group, watching from a few paces behind as they bonded.

She couldn't help but feel like the outcast, like Ichigo's approval was what would initiate her into this aspiring evil-fighting team. If that was the case then Makoto was nearly certain that she would be that awkward girl in the background, a part of the team but not a valued member. Her anger flared for a moment, mind coursing along reasons as to how or why this happened to her, and the hairs on her arm stood on end. She could feel her face becoming flushed with vexation as her hands fisted tightly by her sides. She caught Ichigo glance quickly at her curiously before he regarded her with a more skeptical once-over. Makoto probably would have said something to him if Rukia hadn't announced their arrival at Urahara's shop.

The plan was simple and had been devised as such; every day after school the group would trek over to Urahara's shop to train. The first three hours would be conducive towards aptly learning how to handle and treat a sword. The second three hours would be more aimed towards awakening their powers and putting their newly harnessed sword tactics to use.

Makoto looked up at the building and sighed, trying to build up some encouragement. She imagined herself like Mulan; a woman thrusting herself in a place where she was reckoned unwanted to prove that she could produce a viable source of protection for the ones that she loved. She smiled. Suddenly it didn't seem so bad. Mulan was kind of a badass, not to mention she _totally_ got the guy in the end. Makoto's fist clenched now more in positivity and inspiration as she walked with the group into the building. Bring on day one!

* * *

Urahara sighed. It was day four and they'd hardly managed to make any progress awakening their powers. One good thing was that the girls were surprisingly adept with their swords—they explained something about millions of years ago, a stone sword, the moon, some battle…but still no movement on the power front. Physically, however, with the use of their swords, they'd become quite powerful.

Rei had opted for a bow and arrow on the second day, explaining that her power took the shape of one and she was in the archery club at home. Urahara saw no harm in it, seeing as how Ishida used his Quincy powers in the form of a bow and arrow. That, however, meant that he and the girl would be working together for the first three hours, which caused his ears some grief. Urahara was glad she'd switched, though, because she was actually quite amazing with a bow, better than Ishida he'd dare to say. She wasn't quite as tactically smart but that would come with time.

Ami outshined the rest in tactics. Her ability to assess weak points, discover the components of their power, and formulate defensive and offensive maneuvers actually impressed him. She was nowhere near as good as he was, Urahara internally gloated, but then again, not many were. Ami's biggest problem was that she was shy with a sword. Capable, sure, but not willing to work her hardest to inflict damage on someone she knew. Based off of her description of her powers that didn't surprise him much. Ami, he could tell, harnessed quite a lot of strength that she refused to put to use. If she would only tap into that, Urahara believed that she would shock the others as the most efficient and powerful of the group.

Makoto…was a case study. She was strong, there was no doubt about that. Her martial arts skills were impressive, near Ichigo's skill level, but when tempted or frustrated all of that training morphed into sheer brutality. She was good with a sword, better than Ami but less fluid than Minako, but seemed to space out a lot. She had a disturbing mindset never to give up, which Urahara both liked and was worried by solely because of the fact that her body was able to push itself through a beating. Not to mention the growing despise between her and Ichigo was blatantly apparent. When he'd pulled her aside and asked her about it one night after training, she merely shrugged her shoulders and told Urahara to "ask _him_."

Minako was the best with a sword. She handled it nearly effortlessly and Urahara took it upon himself for the first two days to refine her natural talent. It was like she and Makoto switched places when it came to sword abilities and martial arts. She was pretty good, but Makoto obviously would have the upper hand against her in hand-to-hand combat. She seemed to get along with everyone and was the obvious leader of their group. Not in the fact that she reigned best in all abilities, but the fact that when the time came to it, she simply exuded authority. Outside of the battlefield, however, he would dare to call her nearly dim.

For the past couple of days, when it came to power work, Minako had been training with Ichigo, Ami had been training with Ishida, Rei was battling the combined effort of Orihime and Sado, while Makoto battled Rukia. Nobody was getting anywhere. He thought back to a conversation they'd shared.

"_You said that you were coming here to battle a foe who'd raided your princess's dreams, correct?" he'd asked._

_Minako nodded, her long ponytail bobbing as she took a sip of water. They were covered in sweat and dust after a long afternoon of training. Their break was minute but a question had struck Urahara. "Yeah, I was actually wondering if you could help us out. Usagi's description wasn't really overly detailed but I figure there can't be too big a pool of evil henchmen to choose from."_

"_What did he look like?" Urahara asked. _

_Minako looked up trying to remember. "I believe she said he wore a white coat, had slicked back brown hair—"_

"—_And let me guess, some sort of chilling grin," Urahara finished, fiddling thoughtfully with his cane. He wasn't surprised._

_Ami, who'd seen the prospects of easily finding their enemy much smaller than Minako, looked extremely shocked. "You know who this is?"_

_Ichigo's face held a grimace of disgust. "Sosuke Aizen."_

Urahara, with the help of Rukia, had explained their current situation: Aizen, the Hogyoku. He wouldn't admit it to them but he was extremely pleased that their enemy was one in the same. Their story seemed to become more and more legitimized—that is until now. He growled in frustration. His hand clenched tightly on his cane as he watched them battle. That's all they were doing; they battled but they didn't fight. "Stop!" he yelled. Each person froze, semi-tired gazes looking up to his, surprised. "This is ridiculous," he said. "None of you are actually trying to hurt the other one."

Rei looked confused, trying to catch her breath. "But," she took a deep breath, "but we don't want to seriously injure each other," was her reply.

Urahara turned to her. "You said that the only way to awaken your powers was to put yourselves in extreme amounts of danger. If you aren't trying to _kill_ each other then this entire thing is moot!" he tightly replied. "I'm starting to think you girls don't even have powers." The fact that they hadn't even produced one lick of power yet made his statement slightly true, besides the fact that he could just _barely_ feel something there. He was really starting to believe that his mind was starting to make things up. His words evoked the reaction he'd hoped for when they all glared at him with different levels of despise. "It's time to switch partners," Urahara announced, pointing to Rei. "You work with Ishida. You," he said, pointing to Minako, "will work against Sado, Orihime, _and_ Rukia." Minako gaped at him as he turned to Makoto. "You will work with Ichigo." The blonde haired man watched as Ichigo tried to insist that he was fine working with Minako but he waved off his protests. "And you," he said, pointing to Ami, "will be working with _me_."

* * *

Their bows were raised, aimed for the heart. Rei's mind was a whir of contradictions. Should she truly aim to hurt him? Sure they fought, even more intensely than she and Usagi usually bickered, but she by no means actually wanted to pierce his flesh with her arrow. He had discarded his Quincy bow and opted for a powerless one like hers, for the time being at least. Both of their strings were taut, finger quivering with the desire to release, to feel the air blow by their faces as an arrow shot forth. But they simply stood their ground, staring each other down.

"It's your choice, Rei," she heard him say.

What he meant by that she clearly did not understand as she cocked her head to the side. His indication that she was the one holding the cards was beyond her. Perhaps he was trying to get into her head, to make her shoot off the first arrow. She shrugged her shoulders and complied, letting one arrow go and reaching quickly for another as she watched him deftly dodge. Before he had a chance to even stand back up, another arrow was flying in his direction. He managed to deflect it with his bow but by that time she was already in a dead sprint towards him. He managed to dive out of the way of her first kick and delivered a powerful thrust of his own foot towards her shin. She leapt above it and after landing, spun on the tip of her toes, aiming a roundhouse kick to his lowered head. Reaching up, Ishida grabbed her thin ankle and lifted himself to his feet, taking her leg with him.

He, expecting her to fall to the ground, was thoroughly surprised when she didn't. Her flexibility permitted her leg to rise almost to her ear. Rei grinned. "8 years of yoga."

Ishida smirked and rolled his eyes as he palmed her sternum. Rei, unable to keep her balance, fell to the ground, gracefully contorting it into a back summersault. But he'd pounced upon her before she could even rise from the ground. His arm reared back to hit her in the face—and he would have, if he hadn't have hesitated. For some reason the thought of hitting a girl, one that wasn't seriously trying to hurt him at least, did not bode well with him. In his brief moment of mental clarity, Rei, not necessarily debating the same morals, elbowed him in the nose followed by a swift knee to the gut.

With a grunt Ishida rolled away from her, standing and placing a hand to his nose. When his fingers pulled away they were wet with his own blood. He had to admit, he was glad she'd done that…because now those morals, those conflicting ideologies he'd been debating, dissipated. He would now have no qualms about hitting her.

She approached him again and deftly jabbed at his face. His speed, however, increased two fold and he snatched her arm, twisting it behind her back and slipped her head in his bow, the string effectively putting her in a chokehold. She'd seen it coming, however, and was quick enough to place a hand to her neck, keeping her fingers between the cutting bite of the bowstring and her neck. That didn't necessarily reduce its pain much, however.

He roughly struck her in her back and Rei gasped as her knees buckled. Her shoulder seared with pain, still being held at an odd and very painful angle by his hand. In desperation she flung her head backwards, successfully connecting with his nose again and he staggered backwards, dropping her to the ground.

Rei spun quickly in her knees, pulling out an arrow and knocking it…only to come face to face with a speeding shimmering light aimed directly for her heart.

* * *

Minako watched her three attackers carefully. They'd surrounded her in a triangle of doom, either waiting for her guard to slip or formulating a plan based on aggravating her by not moving. Or so she thought, based on the welling impatience inside of her. But she kept calming herself, knowing that rushing into a battle would only quickly put her on the defensive end. She would devise her own plan while they tested the fortitude of her guard.

Suddenly one of them moved and Minako ducked instinctually, a fierce beam of power shooting over her head. And before she knew it a sword was reigning down on her as Rukia cut deftly and expertly towards her jugular. Minako parried just in time and contorted her body so as to doge another blast of power from Sado's arm.

Rukia jumped away from her and did some strange hand movements Minako didn't understand and said some words she couldn't hear. Before she knew it, however, she was hit by a powerful blast that knocked her backwards. She groaned as the dust settled, recognizing the coppery taste that infiltrated her mouth. It was no time to rest, however, as Rukia appeared like magic from the dust, sword raised and prepared to strike.

Minako rolled out of the way, standing and ignoring the pain in her body. She blocked the blow and parried with a swift one of her own, effectively pushing Rukia back. While the smaller girl was still stumbling, Minako aimed a kick at her chest, only to pull her foot back quickly as something that looked like a missile aimed to injure her leg. She looked over to Orihime who stood the farthest away from her and looked bashful.

Her senses tingled and Minako contorted her body again, dodging a blow by Sado and just barely escaping a swipe from Rukia. Blood trickled from a new wound in her forehead, the tip of the short girl's sword grazing her skin. She sprung backwards from the pair of them and realized that once again she was trapped in a triangle.

Sado's arm reared back again, Orihime shouted something incoherent, and Rukia's sword formulated a deadly array of ice. All sound drowned from her ears as the reality of the situation hit Minako. They really weren't playing around, they truly meant to hurt her.

As Senshi they'd never really fought to maim before, their sparring usually solely hand to hand. Only rarely did they use their attacks on each other. This situation, however, was not conducted in that manner. Here, she was not a Sailor Senshi. Her impending doom loomed over her head as three powerful attacks searched her out. It all moved in slow motion

All Minako could think to do was to hold out her hands as the three attacks crashed upon her.

* * *

Ami watched Urahara carefully. He stood in front of her, posture comfortable as if he didn't have a care in the world. Not to mention an insufferable smirk was plastered to his lips. She couldn't read his eyes, their calculating deceptiveness hidden well beneath the shadows of his hat.

He toyed with his cane, twirling it back and forth as she watched him closely. She was on her toes, she was ready for anything that he'd throw at her. She tried to plan her moves ahead of time; if he came from her right she'd parry his blow, which he would most likely cut across his body. She knew this only because he carried no sword…but his cane, which he held in his left hand, could easily harbor such an instrument. If that were true then he would unsheathe it from his left and attempt to cut her in one motion. If he came from her left she'd have more time to block his attack unless he struck from above. If he came straight on…

Ami's thoughts went into hyper speed as he moved. His swiftness was such, however, that she could not see him. Luckily the ground was made of uncompact dirt, which, with her quick eye, allowed her see his footprint. As soon as her mind registered that he was coming straight on Ami darted forward, monitoring his footsteps in the dirt and calculating the point at which they would meet. She'd already racked up the height of the longest possible length of his sword and at what point she would need to duck.

When that point approach Ami fell to the ground and slid as if she were going for a base. A brief flash of sliver glinted above her head, snatching a few loose strands of her hair. Ignoring how close she'd come to being struck in the head Ami used her momentum and sprung to her feet, immediately administering a kick that missed.

His speed was still too quick for her but Ami had already made a plan for that. When she'd slid, she'd picked up two handfuls of the dirt. Immediately she threw one handful of dirt into the air to her right and backed away. Her mind swiftly noticed how a thin strip of it blew even farther to her right. The movement had been from his sword cutting through the air, just barely missing her. Therefore he was on her left.

Ami threw the second handful of dirt to her left, watching as he sputtered for a moment before she struck with her sword. She hit air and was immediately struck on her temple.

Her vision became blurry and all Ami remembered was something silver aimed towards her stomach before it erupted it a geyser of heat.

* * *

Makoto watched Ichigo carefully from her position across from him. She stood ready, muscles tired though taut with preparation as she readied herself for battle. She recalled what Rukia had told her over the past few days about sword use and tried to exemplify preparedness. Ichigo stood across from her, his ready position abandoned as he watched her with a mixture of emotions battling across his features. His face became a mottled blend of anger, worry, and pity as his eyes shifted from her to Urahara in different shades of distaste. With one last admonishing glance towards the man in the hat, Ichigo brought his eyes to Makoto's ready form. Her anger flared when he still hadn't even raised his sword.

"I don't want to fight you," he said. It wasn't a dramatic, 'please, don't let's do this, I don't want to fight you,' sort of thing but something more along the lines of a harsh rejection. Makoto felt like she was five again and being told on the playground that the other little brats didn't want to play with her. The way he said it made her feel unworthy of even his beating.

She shook her head adamantly and gripped the hilt furiously. Her hair had been falling in pieces from her ponytail over the course of the day and hung wistfully in front of her eyes. His admonition was just another jab at her patience and added to her mounting frustration. "Just raise your sword, you prick, who cares if you want to do it or not."

It was as if Ichigo could feel her anger rising like the temperature. It made him uncomfortable and his body urged him to fight her, to put her down and quell the raising fires that made him so uneasy. His mind, however, was still aware of the fact that she _was_ a part of their team, no matter how much his unprovoked despise urged him to put her down. Ichigo shook his head slowly and placed his sword on his back. "No," he said with finality as he turned to walk away. He was doing it for her own good, for the good of the group.

With a loud growl of aggravation Makoto threw her sword to the ground. Ichigo regarded her like a child throwing a tantrum as the dirt rose around her feet. She glared at him with fiery green eyes, cheeks flushed with fatigue and, whether she liked to admit it or not, from holding back the burning tears that were edging into her eyes. "Then fight me like a man, dammit!" Her rage soared and Makoto felt like this entire journey had morphed into a colossal waste of time and energy. "I have traveled a _dimension_ away from my home, from the one person to disband all preconceived notions about me and welcomed me with open arms, from the _one_ person I have vowed my entire LIFE to protect!" Makoto was nearly shivering with resentment. "If you think that I'm going to let you waste my time and the energy I've put into bettering myself so that she will be alright then you are _sadly_ mistaken!" She slipped slowly back down into her ready position, fists ready for hand-to-hand. Ichigo turned fully to face her, eyeing her in a different regard while his body still ached to make her bleed. "So get ready," she finished, "because I'm coming whether you like it or not."


	7. Release

**Echelon9**: Thank you for you compliment. I agree with what you say about breaking up the dialogue and the paragraphs and I will definitely work on that. However, I actually am not using the anime forms of either series; it's an impossibility for Bleach seeing as how I've only seen a couple of the anime episodes and have read the entirety of the manga that has been released. As for Sailor Moon, I'm not quite sure how you came to that conclusion at all. That being said go ahead and nitpick away, I'd love to see why you feel that way and if there is anything I can do to fix it. Thank you for your constructive criticism!

**Sadekuuro**: I'm glad you liked Ami's fight! She really is a smart cookie and I wanted to show that. Thank you for your compliments, I really tried to make the fights as realistic as I could (given the circumstances) haha. I really appreciate your review!

**JPandS:** It's finally heeereee. Yay, I'm happy you guys liked Ami and Urahara's scene so much. Her intellect will expand even more and his curiosity of her intellect will do the same, haha. Her pairing is a super secret hehe, until the story progresses, of course. I'm glad you could visualize the action, that's what I was going for. I hope I lived up to that in this chapter as well with Makoto and Ichigo's fight. This chapter is almost the last kind of "precursor" to the good stuff, so it only goes up from here! Thank you for your review, as always it's much appreciated :)

* * *

**Ascension**

**Chapter 7:** Release

Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon or Bleach.

With her speech completed, Makoto pushed off from the ground and darted in his direction. Quickly Ichigo slid down in preparation, muscles tensing as she threw a calculated jab his way. He dodged it easily before contesting with a blow of his own towards her stomach. She blocked it, but his punch contained more strength than the effort she placed into her block, causing his fist to graze her side. Makoto rolled into the hit, letting the graze quickly spin her around.

In a startling acrobatic feat she reached around behind her, grabbing Ichigo's still outstretched arm as if she was leaning back on a railing and, using the momentum from her spin, let loose a lethal kick towards his head. He ducked just in time, slamming his palms into the ground and using his strength to stab a quick kick towards her face from below. Makoto reached out instinctually to grab his foot, startled by his unearthly speed. She slid back, leaving tracks in the dirt but she hooked the crux of his knee in her elbow, launching forward with all of her strength. In one swift movement she lifted it high and he fell to his back, though not before swiping her unsuspecting feet from beneath her.

Makoto fell harshly, grunting as her side hit the hard ground. With her mind still cognizant of his position, however, she wrapped her leg around his and lifted her body onto his body. She raised her fist to hit him in the face but he rolled over on top of her, trapping her once offensive leg attack into a crippling backfire. She let out a cry from the pain that erupted at its odd angle but pushed her body to the side, using the momentum from his own roll, and tumbled back on top of him. Unwinding her leg she raised a fist to hit him when he grabbed her poised arm rolled over her again.

They grappled on the ground for a moment, each fighting for the top position until they sprung apart. They stood panting, dust coating their clothes and hazing the short distance between them. Ichigo watched her for a moment, perplexed as to what maintained his deep and churning ire for her. It was nothing but an inkling, a feeling that made him despise her so much that he decided to hold no reservation. She had skill, he had to admit it, but he knew that he would beat her and so did she.

His reiatsu slowly leaked from his body in a stream of energy as he charged with a speed so fast Makoto could barely follow. His advances came in a flurry and her human form could hardly keep up. A haze of vicious strikes pummeled her hasty defensive maneuvers and she blocked and dodged what she could. But Ichigo landed a palm to her stomach, a forceful hit that sent a ripple of shock throughout her body and forthwith knocked the wind out of her. Makoto keeled over, gasping for air but was subsequently the recipient to a swift knee to the nose. She fell to the ground, blood leaking from her nostrils as she skid across the dusty floor.

If she'd ever been one to take a fight with anyone lightly, if she'd taken that moment to wallow in her pains and complain to herself about Ichigo's uncalled for hatred, Makoto probably would have died right then and there. She'd seen the look in his eyes. She'd noticed the golden hue that illuminated his irises. She knew he was out for blood. She rolled away as soon as she stopped skidding, grateful that her intuition took her in the right direction as Ichigo's sword left a deft slit in the ground where she once lay. That simple, vicious line in the ground could have been in her stomach.

Makoto faltered in incredulity at the level to which he took this fight. There was something seriously wrong with this kid. He was really trying to _kill_ her! She panicked for a moment, standing and stumbling back clumsily as he swung methodically at her vitals. This was real now. Urahara's words echoed in her mind. She truly had to be in danger for any of this to work…and Ichigo was making this situation truly dangerous. Makoto thought back to the initial release of her powers, the anger she felt, the burning passion that ran through her veins, the _need_ to protect. She was nothing without her label, she was the Senshi of Protection and when that was gone…she was nothing.

Makoto got angry. Her opponent's sword came crashing down towards her head and the brunette captured the sword between her hands, blood slowly trickling from her palm to her elbow from the piercing edge of his Zanpakuto. The strike had contained so much power that she now stood in a miniscule crater, a dent in the ground. She looked up to him and growled.

Ichigo felt a tempestuousness stir around them. It was the same dangerous spike that had been circulating around him ever since she'd arrived. The danger was so real that the fear itched in the back of his head. He had to put her down. His reiatsu output increased and the crater beneath her deepened.

Makoto was struggling. He was soon going to overpower her and she knew it. She had to push back, she had to prove _something_. If it was this easy for him to defeat her then perhaps her title should be stripped. _Who can I protect if I can't even protect myself?_ She thought. The sword inched slowly towards her head, the blood on her hand making the blade slick and ungraspable. With one final press from him it slipped through her tired and wet fingers, the gleaming point of his sword milliseconds away from an impending strike on her head.

_No!_

Ichigo was thrown back viciously by a force he couldn't immediately comprehend. The air was wild around him as the entirety of their training ground took up in a whirlwind. He covered his eyes with the sleeve of his flapping hakama, only now lowering the black fabric and peering beyond its protection. Four pillars of light lit up the training ground: one red, one yellow, one blue, and one green. He stumbled backwards as the ground shook below him, sending tremors through his body. The light intensified, to a brightness that his eyes could not withstand. He held his arm back over his face and dug his sword into the ground, trying to maintain his position against the righteous wind that blew at him.

Just as the light was becoming too much to bear, its entirety was sucked into the four bodies and a deafening silence was left in its wake. It was so quick, whatever had happened was so fleeting that Ichigo had to reason with himself that it had actually occurred. The body before him glowed momentarily in its respective color before it collapsed listlessly to the ground.

Ichigo blinked once and then twice. He hesitantly put his arm down, peeking from behind his sleeve before slowly approaching her curled up body. She was unmoving, a mat of something wild and brown that hadn't been there before now covering her body. As he approached, his cautious steps were bated by one curious fact: He could see her legs. His head cocked to the side. She'd been wearing pants moments ago when he'd been fighting her… so why could he now see the long appendages that lay before him? Then it hit him. Ichigo, eyes widening, balked as he tried to back away quickly, letting loose a pathetic sound he did not know he was capable of making. His feet tripped over themselves and he fell gracelessly to the ground, eyes swirling as a single stream of blood flowed from his nose. He heard Ishida call it out before his mind could even register the word.

She was… they were… _naked._

* * *

Minako's eyes fluttered open slowly. Her body felt tired and pained, sore and achy with every slight move she made. Whatever was below her was soft, much unlike…Her eyes shot open, the somnolence that clouded her mind and hazed her vision dissipated as she sat up quickly. _BIG_ mistake. Her head felt like it was hit by a bullet train, a thumping and pounding so visceral and intense that she could have sworn the energizer bunny was using her temples as its drum. With a hand to her now throbbing head, Minako pondered what had happened…Her face scrunched, unable to think about anything but the persistent beat in her head. She rubbed her temples vigorously, trying to get the pain to ebb, to ease it in any way. But it maintained its steady ache over and over and over again…Minako grit her teeth hard. _Make it stop!_

There was an audible creak in the room and Minako's eyes snapped open. Who was there? What was that? She looked around the room, eyes darting left and right only serving to prolong and increase the pain in her head. Looking down, Minako fingered the sheets below her, the soft fabric bubbling between her digits. She was lying in Orihime's bed…surrounded by a blanket of her own hair. Mouth gaping, Minako grabbed the strands. She was astonished as she held the ends—which had grown an extensive amount from her already glorious long locks. She eyed the room warily, so confused as to her whereabouts and what had happened. Where had she been? What was she doing? What the hell was with her hair? She slid her feet over the side of the bed slowly, standing on the cool wooden floor… before promptly falling to the ground.

_What the hell?_ She thought, looking to her legs. They were hers for sure, she knew her own legs. And she thought she knew how to use them… Minako pushed herself up from the ground, using the bed as leverage to stand, wobbling a bit before carefully taking a step. It was harder than it should have been. It was as if all motor function had flown out the window. She was training herself to walk again, like a toddler. Gently, Minako made her way towards the door, one foot in front of the other, arms out to balance as if she was walking a tightrope.

Just as her hand reached for the knob she noticed an umbrella in a jar by Orihime's door. The metal rod was bent at an angle Minako was sure rendered the umbrella useless. She thought it was curious, how Orihime would have such an impractical item in her bedroom. Shrugging it off she reached for the knob again and turned it, walking into Orihime's living room.

Stepping past the threshold Minako looked up and immediately froze. Six pairs of eyes turned her way.

"Minako!" Rukia called, a smile on her face.

"You're awake," Ichigo said.

"How are you feeling?" Orihime asked, walking over to her and grabbing her hand.

Minako was startled by all of the attention on her, and very, very suspicious as to why they were all staring at her and talking to her at once. "Uh…" she started looking around the room. Everything seemed relatively normal…"I have a pounding headache," she started, before realizing that there were many things that she was feeling. "I'm freaking thirsty," she said again, licking her lips, "and I feel like I could eat a whole damn cow."

Urahara stroked his chin. "How does your body feel?" he bluntly asked.

Minako blushed at his boring eyes. "Um…I can't really walk," she admitted. Everyone who'd been sitting sprung from their chairs, offering a place for her to sit. Minako's suspicion grew as Orihime slowly walked her to one of the three open chairs at her table. Minako sat down, feeling like a test subject as everyone crowded around her, staring and wondering at something, but she didn't have the faintest clue what.

"Why are you all staring at me?" she asked bluntly and the crowd seemed to slightly disperse; hands went behind heads, there were a few chuckles and more than enough blushes marred cheeks.

"It's just…"Ishida started.

"You're the first to wake up," Urahara finished.

Minako's brow creased. "Wake up?" she asked. "What do you mean?"

Urahara looked confused. "Minako, what is the last thing you remember?"

The blonde sat for a moment racking her brain. The last thing she could really remember was…"Training, I suppose," she admitted. Her eyebrows scrunched as she looked around the room. "What is going on? Just spit it out," she said, her anger rising. Something in the room snapped and everyone turned towards the noise. The handle of one of Orihime's pots, which had been sitting on her stove, had suddenly bent forward.

Minako looked at it for a moment before realizing that all attention had been turned back to her. Her eyes went from the pot to the people around her when a sudden realization hit. The sound in Orihime's room, the bent umbrella rod…and now the bent pot handle…

"Was that me?" She asked incredulously to the wary eyes that looked around. "I don't really understand what's going on here," she admitted.

Urahara smiled and placed a hand to her shoulder. "Minako, you've awoken your powers. All of you did."

Her heart pounded. "We did?!" She stood in excitement, face flushed with glee as her heart pounded, elated that they finally passed that hurdle. The metal legs of the chair beneath her crumpled, bending any which way, loudly snapping as it bent in on itself violently, shuttering and jolting before it skittering across the floor in a heaped ball of mottled metal. Minako's fear rose. What the _hell_ was that?! She was beginning to sweat as her eyes nervously darted around the room. Everyone looked cautious.

"What is happening?" She asked. "What's going on?" Her hands began to shake and the subsequent result was a tremor in the ground.

Orihime looked to her floor as what felt like a small earthquake began to shake her apartment's foundation. The dishes clattered in her cabinets, loud noises emitting from all of her appliances as something foreign meddled with their construction. She noticed Minako looking around the room panicking, her eyes wide like a frightened animal backed into a corner. Her fists clenched and unclenched before reaching for her head.

Minako couldn't stand the pain. The throbbing was becoming unbearable. She pressed her palms as hard as she could to her temples, squeezing her eyes shut. Hot tears pricked at the corners as she tried to shut out the excruciating zinging in her head. The ground shook harder and Minako panicked again. "Make it stop!" she begged helplessly. All she could think of was the pain, the storm of hurt, and the tumultuous shockwaves of complete and utter agony that rode her nerves like a highway. She faintly noticed the ground shaking harder, the dishes falling from their once confined positions, and the distant calling of her name.

"MINAKO!"

It finally broke through. Her eyes snapped open, wildly looking about, confused as to why everyone was on the floor, a look of pain on their faces mirroring what she felt in her own head. Her breathing was ragged, uncalled for sweat beading on her skin as her whole body trembled. Her palms were still pressed to her forehead in effort to squeeze the throb from her brain. All she could hear was her breathing, her rapid, scared breathing. They all looked so _scared_ of her… "What happened?" she whispered, the air pushed from her lungs as if she'd been hit in the stomach. She needed answers! Her heartbeat rose in alarm. Urahara held out his arms.

"Minako please, you need to calm down!"

Her breathing became heavier. "What happened?" she asked again, like a station on repeat. "Why are you on the floor?"

Urahara acted quickly. "Minako, you've awakened your powers," he blurted. "All of your raw power is now tap-able inside of you and you don't know how to control it yet."

Her shaking slowed. "Why are you on the floor?" she asked again, willing her every nerve to cease trembling. It wasn't working.

Urahara looked as if he were speaking to a terrorist who had his life in their hands until he realized she was calming down. His façade turned stone serious, eyes burning into her with an intensity that she most nearly tangibly felt. Everyone else looked alarmed. "When I asked you what your power was you said you had an affinity for light, correct?"

Hands still pressed to her temples, Minako nodded.

"Are you sure that's the extent of your powers, Minako?"

She was confused. What was he getting at? What was he insinuating? What was he trying to tell her? The shaking started to rack her body again and a slow clatter built once more in the cabinets. Urahara's hands rose to calm her but she didn't understand his question. Her powers? What did she have? She couldn't remember. She panicked. What were her powers? Minako was panicking. The clatter built to a full rattle and the tremors began in the floor once more. She could hear Urahara trying to calm her down, but what were her powers?!

_Think Minako!_ She demanded herself as the pain in her lobes began to etch it's way back in. Suddenly, as if the proverbial dam that was her mind burst, images came flooding into her mind's eye. Her crescent beam smash. Her love and beauty shock. Her love me chain—

Minako gasped and the rattles and tremors immediately stopped. A pregnant silence hung in the air as she eased her breathing. Her chest began to rise and fall rhythmically. "Metal," she breathed.

Urahara nodded. He stood slowly as if not to frighten a dangerous and unpredictable animal. "Minako your powers are connected to your emotions. Everything you feel within you now will have a physical consequence on metallic objects."

He took a slow step towards her and she took a small one backwards, letting her hands finally fall slowly from her temples. They rested, clenched white in small fists at her side. Her body began to shake with uneven breathing once more. "Why were you on the ground?" she asked through gritted teeth.

Urahara nodded. "Minako, you control metal down to the most basic molecular level. We were on the ground because your fear and inability to control your newfound powers was literally ripping the iron from our blood." The color drained from her face at the uncontrollable smile that was building on Urahara's face. "You," he said, walking slowly towards her with calculated steps, "you," he said again, a look of astonishment creeping into his eyes. Slowly he reached out to touch her, his warm hands holding her shaking shoulders. "Minako, you are an unstoppable offensive weapon."

An offensive weapon? Minako's mind began to whirl. No. No, she was no weapon. "No," she said, breath coming ragged again. She could feel it beginning to build within her body, the first time she actually felt the heat of the festering power within her. She would not let it out, she would not harm them again. She was the Senshi of Love and Beauty. She was not a weapon.

Minako collapsed into Urahara's arms, the man catching her as she slowly sank to her knees, legs giving out beneath her. "Minako!" he heard Orihime gasp as he brushed the bangs away from her sweaty forehead. Urahara's lips pursed. She'd passed out.

"Urahara what happened?" Rukia asked, a wave of curiosity and trepidation coursing through her.

He gently held the cheek of the now sleeping girl in his arms, the warmth of her skin more feverish than lush. He tsked. "She was trying to control her powers and it took up all of her energy. She passed out."

Rukia could tell by the look on his face that while they were in the clear of having the iron ripped from their blood, the fact that it took every drop of her energy to prevent her emotions from taking over and ripping them to shreds was not the progression he'd hoped for.

Whatever had just happened, it was not good.

* * *

Learning from Minako's awakening, the team took a gentler approach to rousing her friends. Acting proactively, the day after Minako nearly killed them all they decided to wake Rei. This was because of her temper and her destructive power; if she had a reaction similar to or worse than Minako's it wouldn't be trembling and bent pot handles…Orihime's apartment would go up in flames.

Minako was weary, tired, and still in pain but volunteered to do the waking despite their insistent refusal. She'd waved off their worries, however, and revealed that if anyone other than her woke Rei then their face and Orihime's apartment were done for. "Everyone grab a bucket of water just in case, though," Minako had giggled, causing a clip in Orihime's hair to fling open and bounce from her head. They looked silently to the clip on the floor and Minako had sweatdropped. "I'm trying, I swear."

Rei's waking had surprisingly been easier than Minako's. She'd groaned with the same insane headache the blonde suffered but denied loss of control. When Minako made a joke about her now similarly lengthy hair, Rei's temper rose and Orihime's sheets instantaneous caught in a rage of flames. The group panicked and both the sheets and Rei were immediately doused with buckets of water. The girl sat soggily in the middle of the charred sheets, hair plastered to her face like a wet dog and clearly not amused. She watched the sheepish group in front of her with angered eyes and the temperature in the room rose dangerously. Minako's maniacal laughter on the ground before her was not helping and only served to break multiple things in the room with a symphony of snapping metal. Rukia sweatdropped.

While they thought waking Ami would be the easiest it turned out that the girl had unconsciously encased herself (and the couch she'd been sleeping on) in a tomb of ice.

"What should we do?" Ishida asked, putting his hand on the large block. Immediately his hand was encased in ice and glued to Ami's self-made tomb. "What the—!" He tried to pull his hand away but the ice slowly crept up the appendage.

"Rei, do something," Minako urged quickly as her friend eyed her with a raised brow out of the corner of her eye. She didn't move. "Oh come on Rei, don't be a sour puss," Minako teased, knowing the jib would egg her on and in turn raise the temperature. Rei glared at her and Minako's body temperature rose. "Ow, chill girl," she chastised seriously as her eye squinted in pain. She was surprised when no metal snapped. She was finally getting the hang of her powers.

Rei immediately felt bad and closed her eyes, the headache hitting her full force. She grappled with control before opening her eyes and placing her hands to the frigid surface of Ami's encasement. The ice attempted to cover her hands but melted immediately, sizzling as the whole block began to glisten with water. When Rei heard Minako mumble something about her "laser beam eyes" the entire ice tomb erupted into a flood of water at her annoyance.

Her ire dissipated when Ami lurched forward sputtering, water spewing from her mouth as she coughed to clear her lungs. When she caught her breath and asked what happened, Rei explained briefly. The group prepared for the worst, decked out in scarves and hats, hands held in front of their faces, and waited for the anticipated explosion of ice or snow. But nothing happened.

Ami nodded after Rei finished speaking. "Makes sense," she said.

Minako eyed her warily. "Do you…have a headache or anything?" Her hair had grown long just as theirs had but she did not seem to be in pain.

Confused, Ami shook her head. "No, I do not. Should I?"

Urahara watched her with a smirk. He had a feeling he was going to like Ami. The tomb of ice that she'd built up around herself hadn't been some uncontrolled leak of her power. Subconsciously she'd used it to heal her body and prepare for the influx of strength she was about to endure. He would need to speak with her privately.

When the group went to wake Makoto, Orihime became wary. Leaves poked out from every crevice of the door, large healthy leaves crawling up the jamb and curling around the handle. She reached out to grab it and pulled away with a squeal after contact.

"Orihime!" Rukia called out.

The girl raised a hand. "It just shocked me, no biggie," she explained. She reached slowly for the door again and grasped the handle, feeling the same uncomfortable shock. Twisting the knob Orihime jerked the door open. The group peered into the room in awe: draping the walls, the floor, and anything solid were thick vines riddled with lush, fanned, green leaves. They numbered in the thousands, curling and twisting prettily as small blossoms dotted their extensions. Suddenly they twitched with what could have been a draft from the door, but Orihime had a feeling that they'd sensed their presence; the leaves now sported razor sharp edges. Orihime made a move to enter the room but Rei grabbed her shoulder, her hand unnaturally warm.

"I wouldn't do that," she warned, taking a coin from a nearby bookshelf and tossing it into the room. Just as it passed the threshold the coin was sandwiched by two thin lashes of green electricity. It jolted in a vicious tremor before falling singed to the bed of leaves that now constituted the floor. "Makoto may be connected to nature but her main component is lightening."

"Then how do we get into the room?" Sado asked, cautious.

Minako rolled her eyes. "We don't." She cupped her hands around her mouth and the group put out their hands to stop her before she could—"MAKO-CHAN!"

The group immediately scattered except for Minako and Urahara. They hid behind tables, chairs, and Orihime's couch in preparation for some burst of power. The two who stood before the door looked unperturbed.

"I have to say, I'm surprised you noticed," Urahara whispered to his blonde companion as a rustle sounded and movement shuddered in the darkness.

Minako's mouth was in a grim line. "She's never been the best at control." Minako had known that there would be no big reveal, as there had for the rest of them. She'd figured it out when Rei had thrown the coin into the room. Makoto was already unleashing her powers. The room was thick with electricity, evidenced by the static that parted her hair and the spark that shone inconsistently between the vines. "Mako-chan, get up!" she called again.

A groan came from the bowels of the room. "My _head_…"


	8. The Activators

**Echelon9: **It's clear that your knowledge of Sailor Moon is extensive. I actually really do appreciate your nitpicks because they've required me to take a closer look at my own story and at the original from which I'm basing it. I originally read the series as it was being released in the United States by Mixx and I don't think I've reread it since—which your concerns have caused me to do. It's kind of amazing how much gets diluted in your brain when your only continuous connection to the series is fan fiction haha. That being said, I will once again address your concerns as best I can because I feel that perhaps there is some explaining I must do.

Thank you, thank you for bringing up my first mention of star seeds. I originally started writing this story in 2008 when I was far less careful with planning out my stories and threw that small comment in there not realizing that it completely threw off the timing of my story in conjunction with Bleach and the occurrences in Sailor Moon. In the Sailor Moon timeline I'm placing this story after Nehelenia, Aizen's interference therefore postpones Galaxia's appearance. In the Bleach timeline I'm placing the story directly after Aizen's initial betrayal and move to Hueco Mundo.

I'm not going to delve too much into the presence and usage of star seeds because they actually play a part later on in the story (and this chapter) so that's where I'll deal my opinions on that. However I will say that I think perhaps you misunderstand the differentiation I'm making between the two worlds. There are no star seeds in Bleach because there is no Galaxy Cauldron there, the planets and people are thusly not composed of such. It's a hard cut solid line, a _completely_ different place. Tite Kubo's world involves no such mechanism. My interpretation of the manifestation of their powers will be just that, an interpretation, which may be taken or left. If Ichigo ever did go to the SM dimension, which he may or may not, I do not think that he would have a star seed simply because he was not created in that dimension, he was not born of the Cauldron—just as the girls have no reiatsu. I feel like this idea is explained when I had Ami surmise that the Bleach dimension most likely finds them foreign agents meant to be ejected: they're not even made of the same stuff as everyone else but are existing anyway, therefore the situations that I am creating are how I believe their powers would balance out in a world where they shouldn't exist.

As for Haruka and the Outers, I'm sorry to say I have to disagree. I believe Haruka's tongue to be sharp. The first thing she said to them was "if you get in my way again, I won't show you any mercy." When she throws Makoto's unprepared ass over her shoulder she drops some solid knowledge on her. In the Dream Arc she continuously says that the Inners will just get in their way. And of course the Outers care, I think it's fair to assume that if Pluto understands the gravity of the situation then the other three would reappear just as they did after Saturn was reawakened. I've never said that they were cowering in fear. I find the Outers to be extremely protective people who care deeply about their princess and don't feel the need to be separatists anymore (these feelings of mine are evidenced by Pluto bowing to Usagi as she turns into princess Serenity saying that they will "do whatever is necessary to make amends for our rudeness," and have "done everything in our power to protect you and this planet." As well when Saturn awakes she says, "none of us need to live in solitude anymore or fight only from a distance, we've been reborn together anew, along with our princess."). I also completely disagree about their power differences and I think it's preposterous that one Outer could completely wipe out Soul Society, the Espada, the Stern Ritter, and the Royal Guard. If that was even remotely true there'd be no point in this story at all and any enemy later in the series, including Galaxia, would have been moot. Sure Saturn can blow up a whole planet but she also dies, and I don't think they're willing to do that willy nilly anymore.

It pleases me immensely that you feel it is getting better and I deeply appreciate the compliments you have given. I definitely don't plan on changing Usagi and Mamoru's relationship—I never do haha. There's just something about it…I could never see them separating. I will tell you that I am going to be making artistic incentives; I think that's the beauty in writing and the beauty in fan fiction. I will not be sticking 100% to the canon because I feel that that would be a disservice to my story. My interpretations will be as so and will carry on the story line as I see fit. You are welcome to agree or disagree, that's one great factor of fan fiction, but I urge you to be patient and let the story develop.

I'm not sure why the sword issue bothered you so much. None of them had any ability. I mentioned the sword because it would explain Minako's seemingly inherent ability. When someone is called a "natural" it means that they have little to no experience but show great signs of ability and potential. Therefore that progression is logical.

That being said I actually am very glad you are nitpicking because it's going to prevent my writing and my story telling from getting lazy. The story is only beginning, though, I have a LOT more planned out and coming so it's hard to explain what's really going on without revealing too much about my later plans. I'm glad Minako is your favorite! She's grown on me so much throughout the years and I've really started to like writing her—in fact I seem to be writing her the best in both of my stories, haha, despite how much of a Makoto fan I am. Thank you so, so much for reviewing, especially with so many well thought out ideas, I really appreciate it.

Also 1) sorry this was so long haha, and 2) I'm totally a girl :D

**darkmistressofsilence92: **I have to admit, I'm surprised you stayed with it, haha. Looking back on my first chapter it's _so_ boring but I think it's pretty crucial. It excites me that everyone is so interested in the dynamic between Makoto and Ichigo. It's something that has me excited too. And it's _definitely _affecting his Hollow side. Ami's gonna get a lot of lovin' in this story haha so watch out for it :) Thanks for the review!

**Anonymous Legacy:** Wow, thank you so much! I really do try to keep the story rounded and keep everyone involved because that's what most enjoyable to me and I think that's what's most enjoyable to everyone else. Ok, now concerning the power it's simply post-Aizen betrayal. _Weak sauce_ right? But I'm including the normal story line making my own digressions and decisions so not everything will be making a progression along Tite Kubo's story line. You know, we may jump here and there or change this or that…but I don't think I'm going to jump into the Wandenreich era of his and everyone else's power simply because there's little to no way for me to fit in the complications of his Quincy abilities into this story (without making it like five hundred words long lol). And yes, I'm most _definitely_ including the Hollow. I truly appreciate you saying this deserves more attention, that's really one of the best compliments you can give. Thank you so much for your review!

**Arrankor**: I'm glad you're enjoying the story! The Senshi, however, are not more powerful than the Bleach characters. I mean, when it comes to like Sado and Orihime, yes, but when it comes to them it's the _difference_ in their ability, not necessarily the level. But, you know, things can happen and powers can surge or be lost…keep on the lookout :) As for relationships I'm glad you and everyone else seem to like that Usagi and Mamoru are still together—and the interaction between Ishida and Rei! I think the gushier, cutesier stuff is going to come around when they get to Soul Society ;) I really appreciate your review, thank you so much!

**Sadekuuro:** Thank you so much! I'm glad you liked the descriptions and thought it was funny. I really appreciate your constant reviewing :)

**JPandS:** Hooray! I'm glad you liked their fight. I wanted to make theirs like really gritty just because of his feelings towards her and her hot-headedness. The mystery of his feelings will be revealed…much later hehehe. And so will the conversation about the nakedness! Don't think I forgot about that. Yeah, Minako's is fun right? I delved a little into Rei's abilities in this chapter and I can't wait to reveal the rest of them. I'm glad you liked Ami's little tomb, I really feel like these girls could do some cool stuff when they aren't simple constrained to transforming and the same-old powers. And oh, Ami, Ami, Ami. Hahaha do I have plans for that girl and relationships. Heads up, it's going to be quite amusing :D Yeah, when I get into the other girls' powers Makoto is gonna have some issues *sigh* like always. I figured I would get that chapter out super fast because I knew I wasn't going to update this for awhile because of the holidays. But now I'm back and things are running smoothly! Thank you so much for the review, as always, it's great to hear from you! :)

* * *

**AN:** Sorry it's been so long! Finally the holidays are over, however, and I can get back into the groove. Also I apologize that many of these chapters have been focused on the girls and their powers. There's maybe one more chapter that doesn't really deal with the interactions between all of the characters in both of the stories but once things get settle and I don't have to explain so much anymore we can get to the good stuff. And by the good stuff I mean Soul Society. And by Soul Society I mean the men. And by the men I mean relationships. Enjoy!

**Ascension**

**Chapter Eight:** The Activators

Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon or Bleach

* * *

Ichigo lay in his bed with his hands behind his head. Ever since school had started up again and those girls had appeared in their dimension the entirety of his being felt off balance. Of course there were the distracting feelings that worked their way into his veins whenever he was around their new comrades, but the conversation that they'd had at lunch truly stuck with him. Perhaps there really was some original path they were all supposed to follow, but now that the girls had arrived everything had changed and his body was reacting to the difference.

Rukia had initially opted to stay in Soul Society after Aizen's betrayal but had shown up on the first day of school, much to everyone's surprise. When they'd asked her about her decision her response had simply been "a feeling." Ichigo's frown deepened. She'd said it was a feeling that was reciprocated by Ukitake, who'd sent her back to Karakura Town. Something felt wrong, like Rukia shouldn't be there, like the four new girls shouldn't be there, like the voice in his head shouldn't be there…

Ichigo turned over onto his stomach. Ever since the new girls had arrived his composure had been slipping. The voice in his head became clearer and clearer every single day. His fist grabbed his sheets tightly, threatening to tear the weakening fabric. He watched the threads slowly separate and stretch, feeling that they represented his inner turmoil. If something didn't happen soon Ichigo knew that his inner Hollow would begin to devour him…

His feelings towards that Makoto girl weren't helping either. Almost every time he was around her he felt an extreme hatred towards the brunette. Well, the hatred developed more or less after the fact that her mere proximity made the voice in his head call louder and louder. He felt the control he exacted on repressing his inner Hollow waver around her. He was glad that they'd finally released their powers because now he was not required to be in their vicinity—they were focusing on controlling what dwelled within them instead of "inter-dimensional relations."

He couldn't believe that they actually—

"_Hollow! Hollow! Hollow!"_

Ichigo jumped up, turning sharply to his bedpost. He was still getting used to the shrill warnings the badge exuded and urged his heart to stop thumping. He grabbed the item and his soul burst forth from his body, the latter going limp and falling to the ground.

Ichigo rummaged around in his drawer before pulling out a sleeping Kon, who immediately screamed at the abrasiveness with which he was awoken.

"Gwaaah! What—!"

"No time, Kon!" Ichigo pressed the badge to the plushie and nabbed the soul candy as it launched from its mouth. "Don't mess around with my body," he said monotonously, dropping said object into his human mouth. Before turning to his window and leaping from its sill, he added one more thing. "And don't leave my room!"

* * *

Ishida was perturbed. It wasn't the heaviness of the bags on his arms (filled with various sewing supplies) that weighed him down. It wasn't something that he tangibly felt, no heaviness that he could equate to in reality. But it was there nonetheless and it rubbed him the wrong way. Something about everything had seemed wrong since their new comrades had fallen from the sky.

He understood enough to know that the feeling was probably his body adjusting to the new future that they all were heading towards. There was a path that they were supposed to follow and that path had been disrupted—now they'd been presented with a multitude of directions from which to take and it seemed as if the universe was adjusting and choosing.

He didn't know whether to hold it against the girls or whether to simply accept it and brush the unease from his shoulders. He didn't know what the future…well, his previous future had held, but something about it still felt like it was the path they were supposed to take—a now obstructed, blocked off path. It felt as if they stole something from him.

But in retrospect Ishida still had respect for them and couldn't hand over too much of the blame. They were saving their world, just as he and his comrades did every day for their own. He admired their dedication. Based off of the few conversations he'd had with them it became evident that almost all of them had family in one form another, and considered the princess they left behind to be a part of each and every one of them. To venture so far away with no promise of safety, life, or success was commendable.

But he wished this feeling would _go away._

Perhaps it wasn't just this new path they were all heading down. Ishida thought back to the past week. When they had come back from Soul Society and Urahara had dropped him off at his house from the flying rug, Ishida was confronted with a ghost from his past: It was his father.

Something about the interaction had felt all wrong, as if it wasn't supposed to happen yet. His father had chastised him for how pathetic his venture had been, using the Sanrei Glove and Letzt Stil. He was weak, he had no powers, his father claimed he was useless—but he didn't have to be. He'd met his father the very next day. He'd worked him to death, putting his son on the brink of physical and mental exhaustion before striking him 19 millimeters to the right of his heart with his own Heilig Pfeil. His father had told him that his powers were now returned, a scar in the shape of the Quincy star being the physical representation of this resurgence.

Ishida pressed a hand to his heart, right where the scar resided. He felt as if there was something he was supposed to remember, something his father may or may not have said to him, perhaps some sort of ultimatum. But nothing came to him.

The _feeling_ surged through his veins again, as if his attempt to answer his own questions were detrimental to his well being. Ishida stopped trying to remember things and tried to ebb his growing suspicions. It wasn't easy but the feeling began to fade and Ishida—

A resounding scream echoed four blocks to his left. At first he hesitated, a sensation Ishida shook quickly before dropping his bags and sprinting in the direction of what he knew to be a Hollow.

* * *

Ichigo arrived on the scene to find that he wasn't the first responder. As he rounded the corner of the last block he witnessed Ishida planting a well-placed arrow of reishi into the Hollow's skull. Its mask disintegrated and so did the beast as Ishida landed on a nearby roof.

The moonlight glinted off of his glasses as he pushed them up his nose, briefly obstructing his eyes and whatever emotion may have resided within. He knelt precariously on the edge, looking down at Ichigo's frowning face.

"You feel it too," he said, knowing the substitute Shinigami understood what he meant.

Ichigo crossed his arms. "Yeah I do, and I don't like it."

"Do you think it's an adjustment?" Ishida knew what he believed but he wanted to hear from Ichigo's mouth just what he thought. He didn't get much in return.

Ichigo shrugged his shoulders. "Of some sort." He looked bothered for a moment, his eyes casting down towards the ground and not lifting when he spoke. "Hey…" He paused and Ishida took the break in their minimal talking to leap from the roof. He landed on the pavement in front of Ichigo, standing and crossing his arms with his own bothered look.

"Hey, what?"

Ichigo shook his head. "Nothing, never mind," he said before turning and walking away. He gave a halfhearted wave over his shoulder. "See you in school tomorrow."

Ishida did not find himself worried by Ichigo's strange behavior but rather fairly annoyed. His mercurial nature was irksome and his indescribable ire for a certain brunette was, in a word, annoying. Ishida hmphed and turned around to begin his journey back home, only barely noticing a longhaired blonde in a hat disappear down the block.

* * *

Ami liked her hair short. Ami had always liked her hair short. It was comfortable and it was practical. How Rei or Minako or Usagi did anything with such ludicrously lengthy locks baffled her. How did it not snag on twigs? How was it not constantly dirty? How did they have no split ends?

It was no matter. After three days and three cuts she'd finally managed to chop it to a reasonable length. It wasn't as short as she normally sported it, the blue strands woven into a mid length braid, but it would do until the outpour of her powers stemmed to a lesser degree. Then she could chop it for all it was worth. Ami twirled the end of her braid in her finger.

She was curious. When they'd awoken from their "power comas" each of them had sported drastically longer hair. At first Ami thought she understood—they'd seen something like this before. When Usagi first unleashed her powers and transformed into Princess Serenity her hair and grown continuously to extensive lengths, replicating the hair she'd sported in the Silver Millennium.

That's what Ami had figured: their raw power had been unleashed from their bodies and had issued them as their princess selves. But Ami couldn't for the life of her remember herself or Makoto having hair that went past their waists. She'd pondered it all day, letting the question stew in the back of her mind while her more present brain dedicated itself to controlling her newfound powers.

Ami shook her head. Maybe the sudden influx had just altered their appearance. It was a sure possibility.

"You fighting with yourself or something?"

Ami looked up, startled at Urahara's grinning, shaded face. She replied with an uneasy smile. Ami knew that he was supposed to be their ally but something about him seemed covertly maniacal in nature. It was evident the man was a scientist of some sort, beyond smart, and extremely, extremely secretive. A dangerous concoction if you asked her.

She shook her head no. "Just trying to understand how I got stuck with long hair," she said, throwing in a giggle.

He cut straight to the point. "Relax."

Ami blushed. She wasn't _really_ that wound up about her hair. She gave an uncomfortable laugh with her hand behind the back of her head. "I know, I know it's just hair, right?"

"That's not what I meant."

Ami's disposition of embarrassed gaiety slipped. She removed her hand from the back of her head slowly and placed it with her other one in her lap. The bluenette looked up to Urahara curiously, the hatted man staring at her seriously. His emotional shifts added layers to his mystery and Ami quickly understood that she was in the presence of an extremely powerful man. She gulped. "Then what did you mean?"

"Close your eyes," he said, "and completely relax."

Ami squinted. "But if I do that I won't have control over—"

"Just do it."

She was taken aback by his command, startled at the harshness with which he demanded her. She was wary and that was evident but Ami stuck to her gut and, despite his curious nature, trusted Urahara. Leaning back she let her head rest on the top of the couch she was sitting on, closing her eyes and letting the rigidity that had propped up her body all day melt away.

It felt so good to relax. So good that Ami sighed blissfully. It was like getting a massage after a long day at the gym. It was like getting into bed after a long day at work. It was like getting into a hot bath on a long winter's night. Speaking of winter…

Ami peeked open one eye to assess the damage she'd inflicted on Urahara's store. No frost covered the walls, no ice encased the bookshelves, and Urahara stood unharmed and smirking.

"I don't understand," she murmured, opening her eyes fully and looking around the room. _Nothing_ had happened. She hadn't suddenly lost the powers she'd finally gained back, had she?

Urahara leaned up against the wall. "I asked you here today because I had a suspicion about this."

"A suspicion about what?"

"You already have control over your abilities." Ami's eyes squinted. "You've been bottlenecking your powers, not honing them." Urahara put a hand to his chin. "I noticed it when we saw your ice tomb—you'd been healing yourself." At Ami's surprised look Urahara's eyes squinted. "For such a seemingly smart person you sure are unperceptive when it comes to yourself and your abilities."

Ami frowned. She resented that. Her smart retort froze on her lips when the rest of her friends walked through the doors to the store. She watched him carefully out of the corner of her eye and was mildly embarrassed by the intensity with which he watched her for a moment. He turned towards the approaching girls with a smile and Ami felt a weight lift from her shoulders.

"Amiiiii!" Minako called, waving her arm at the sitting girl. A metallic can in the room crumpled a bit and Minako froze. She glared at the can for a moment, everyone watching her silently. For the next couple of seconds she glared, eyeing the can like it was her worst enemy. Her face turned slightly red with the strain. Finally the can gave a little jolt and a pop and the depressions her excitement had created popped out into their normal form. "And that's how you do it," she said holding out a hand, palm up.

"Hell yeah," Makoto deadpanned, slapping her hand down onto Minako's in a high five.

Slowly but surely Minako's hair began to rise and separate, little flyaways lifting into the air with static. Minako watched as a halo of hair formed around her.

"Dammit," Makoto said sullenly as she hung her head, sweatdropping. Rei slapped her forehead.

"MAKO-CHAN!" Minako squealed, a small tremor coursing throughout the store.

Urahara held up his hands. "Ladies, ladies, _please_ not in my store!"

* * *

"Asauchi?" Rei held the sword in her palm. "Is this really necessary? I mean we're able to control our powers with…" she waved her free hand over her body, "us. Do we really need to use a medium anymore?"

"Perhaps not," Urahara admitted, "but it seems as if your powers are all over the place. Maybe using a medium will help concentrate them. A name will not come to you, seeing as how you cannot acquire Zanpakuto but perhaps some words might." With that Urahara left.

Rei turned to her three friends. "Words?" she asked, staring down at the gleaming metal that resided in her hands. "What is he talking about?"

Makoto shrugged. "Maybe he means that we can use our old powers, like my Coconut Cyclone will come out of this thing or something," she said. She mimicked the moves, twirling in the dust and caused her friends to giggle.

"Maybe," Ami added, walking over to a flat space on the ground. She placed the sword on her lap and a shiver ran up her legs at the cool touch. "He said we had to meditate or something, right? Well, here goes nothing."

Her friends watched her close her eyes. They made eye contact and shrugged, all dispersing to their own secluded parts of their training ground.

Rei chose the flat perch of a lofted rock. She set the sword on her lap and closed her eyes. It would be nice to meditate, it was a favorite pastime of hers that she'd forgone after their initial descent. She let her muscles relax and let her mind drift away from the present plane that her physical body resided.

Her mind carried on like that in silence and peace. She was falling into her usual routine, the comfort and ease washing over her body as she finally felt ready to allow her mind to breach the barrier that was the sword. Slowly she let the gates open, very aware of how vulnerable a state she needed to attain. Gently she internally let down her guard and continued to wait patiently for the proposed connection to occur.

Time passed and Rei continued to wait patiently. She wasn't sure how many minutes or hours had elapsed, but nor did she care. She felt completely relaxed for the first time in—

"…_ess…"_

Rei remained calm, not desiring to lose the depth of her meditation. But she was extremely aware that she could now hear something calling out to her.

"…_cess…"_

She wasn't quite sure what it was saying but two images of light began to form in her mind's eye. They started as two balls of light, dancing like fairies around the crown of her head. Rei felt inclined to swat at them but resisted the urge. They settled in front of her, two glowing balls hovering in front of her eyes and casting a warm glow on her face. Slowly two shapes began to form, small arms and small legs emerging from the globular shivering that was the light. As their true faces began to surface Rei was struck with a chord of recognition.

"_Princess!"_

"Phobos!" she called out, "Deimos! What are…how are you two here?"

The two sprites kneeled on air before their princess's eyes. How could she possibly still have her Sailor Crystal? She was sure that those had melted away when they had come to the new dimension. The last time she saw them like this was when she had confronted Tiger's Eye.

"_Princess, your Mars Crystal no longer exists in physical form, it cannot be extracted from you," _Phobos explained._ "This is why you cannot transform. We exist now within the pure energy that has been released from it."_

Rei looked astonished. "But why are you here then? You already gave me my Crystal."

Deimos smiled. _"Because you called out to us!"_

Rei blinked. "I did?" she asked. "But…I'm in a completely different dimension."

Phobos and Deimos giggled simultaneously behind their hands. _"As your guardians, Princess, a piece of us lives within your Mars Crystal. We're here to help you harness and control your power."_

Rei smiled gently. "Thank you."

"_Lucky for you," _Deimos began, _"now that you've reached out to us, control will be extremely easy!"_

Rei looked confused. "How's that? I can barely contain myself from letting things burst into flames."

"_Because as the Princess of Mars…" _Phobos flew up and tapped Rei's forehead. She felt a flood of warmth rush there and was sure that her planetary symbol had appeared. _"You've had control over the entirety of your powers your whole life. We were simply there to help you release it bit by bit."_

Rei still felt the warmth on her forehead and felt a familiar fire run through her veins.

"_And now," _Deimos continued_, "you have this."_ She pointed to Rei's hands.

Confused, the Miko looked down. She reeled back when she realized that a bow and a quiver of arrows newly resided there. They seemed to be made of embers, a hot, glowing metal that shone a brilliant and soft orange/red. She felt no pain from the contact but she knew that if anyone else were to touch these instruments their hands would burn. She pulled an arrow from the quiver and the tip grew brighter. In a side slot of the quiver was a short, broad sword. After replacing the arrow, Rei pulled it from its slot. She found it was surprisingly light as she balanced the metal in her hand. The girth of the hilt filled her hand perfectly and she studied the intricate patterns that composed it.

It was a phoenix; a twisted and delicate body composed the hilt as its broad wings expanded to encompass the rest. In the center of the firebird's chest was the symbol for Mars.

"It's beautiful," she breathed, turning it over in her hands.

"_It's your manifestation,"_ Deimos explained. _"That is the instrument through which you'll call your normal powers. Your bow is where you may exact your Flame Sniper and perhaps…a little something more."_ Deimos grabbed Rei's wrist. A snake of fire twirled on her arm and this time it did physically burn. Rei squinted her eyes in pain as the dance finished and what emerged on her wrist was a small tattoo in the shape of her Mars symbol. It glowed red briefly before fading back into a mere tattoo.

"_This is your activator,"_ Phobos said. _"This is where you will concentrate your energy to exact your attacks."_

Rei was ecstatic. She turned her eyes from her new weapons to Phobos and Deimos to thank them but instead of the black chasm that constituted her mind's eye, she had turned towards three curious pairs of eyes. Rei blinked, her thankful smile melting from her face as she realized she now mentally was placed back in the physical world.

"She's awake…" Minako murmured, waving a hand in front of Rei's face.

Rei glowered and smacked her hand away. "Of course I'm awake, my eyes are open." Rei finally took a good look at the three girls in front of her. "Hey wait a second…" she said, pointing to Minako's face. "Mina-chan…your eyes!"

Minako sighed. "Yes, yes, we've already gone through this, my eyes are yellow."

Rei frowned as she fully took in their new appearance. Ami remained mostly the same (but Rei still wasn't quite used to the slightly longer hair) but both her hair and eyes seemed to illuminate with a lustrous and glowing blue. Minako still had her beautiful golden hair but her eyes now matched in hue. Makoto had fallen under the same predicament. Her now lengthier curly hair was a light, earthy green that matched her eyes.

At first Rei wanted to laugh. They didn't look ridiculous, per say (in fact she felt they looked prettier) but those appearances wouldn't fly in the public. She was about to make a smart comment when Rei realized that she was not exempt from this transformation. She looked into her lap, saw long strands of fiery red and had to hold back a groan of displeasure.

"What the hell?" was all she could manage to say.

"I have a theory," Ami said, holding up a finger.

All three of the girls sweatdropped. At every twist and turn in their adventure Ami had some wild theory that usually ended up revealing true.

Ami dismissed her friends and continued. "This is our ultimate form. Our extended hair was just a mishap, a side effect of our abrupt unleashing of power—akin to what happened to Usagi but not the same."

"So the color changes?" Makoto asked, twirling a curl of green hair around her finger. She wasn't mad or anything but…she could truly say this was the only time she regretted her planetary color.

"This is us embodying our princess forms. It's like when the Ginzuishuo unleashes itself and Usagi turns into Princess Serenity—only the unleashing was when we first tapped into our power. The control has come now after we've been given our activators, so our bodies have simply given in to the influx. It's like our new transformation."

Rei looked down to her wrist where the symbol of Mars burned red. She closed her eyes and relaxed, just as she would have if she were detransforming. She opened her eyes again and saw that her hair had returned to its raven color and she was sure that her eyes were purple once more.

"How long was I out?" she asked as she stood, curious how the others had achieved their powers.

"About half an hour longer than any of us," Makoto explained. "Ami was the first to awaken, then Minako, then me. Perhaps it was because you had to forge all of that," she said, pointing to Rei's hands.

Within them lay the bow, the quiver full of arrows, and within the quiver the short phoenix sword lay firmly in its pouch. Something within her told Rei that she should be surprised, astounded or confused that a simple sword had transformed into everything she held in her hands. But she was not.

Rei put the quiver on her back. "So detransforming is easy, it's the same as before. But how about reawakening the power?"

Minako put a finger to her chin. "I'm not quite sure, but maybe—" The words froze in Minako's throat as she heard something metallic whip through the air. _Fwip!_ It was knocked into something else metallic. _Click!_

"Gwhaa!"

"Rei!"

"What are you doing?!"

All three girls leapt out of the way as the symbol on Rei's wrist grew red hot. The red seemed to crawl up her arm, up her bow, and up her arrow until it burned with embers once again. She pulled the knocked arrow back in one swift motion and let it fly, swiftly and surely.

The arrow screamed as it darted towards a boulder on the other side of the training grounds. Silently it was lodged into the boulder, the initial impact unheard by the four standing so far away, but in a matter of seconds a deep and loud explosion sounded, causing the boulder to shatter like glass.

Rei smirked. "Cool," she said. "And I didn't even say anything."

Makoto looked astounded as she turned, mouth hanging open, from the explosion back to Rei. "Do it," she said.

Rei looked confused. "Do what?"

"Say it."

Rei's look of befuddlement grew into an almost sinister smile. This time she slowly pulled another arrow from the never-ending quiver and knocked it. She pulled it back until the wire was taught and paused. Rei began to focus, drawing what energy she could into the activator that Phobos and Deimos had given her. Concentrating, she allowed the power to leak extensively and the arrow that had once resembled an ember burst into flames.

Her friends took many steps back as the heat emanating from her new weapon was too much for their close proximity to handle.

The fire grew from the arrow to the bow and the flames looked to lick rather than harm Rei. She felt no pain, as she never had. Instead a surge of an indescribable power waved within her. Her hair and the pebbles around her lifted as if gravity had forgone its presence. Her red locks were alive like snakes of fire and she was surrounded by a minefield of loose stone; the epicenter of power. The flames grew bigger and brighter and Rei felt the familiar words tickle in the back of her throat.

"_Mars Flame Sniper_."

The arrow flew silently this time, the only sound emitted being the soft _"thwack"_ of its release. A small trail of dissipating fire was left in its wake as it spun towards another boulder far off in the training grounds. The girls waited with bated breath to see what the damage of Rei's emerging power would be.

Their hearts beat once. Then twice.

The boulder exploded, not in the tame and controlled manner her first shot had been but in an erratic, destructive detonation. The sound was so loud that all girls covered their ears and watched in amazement and fear as small shards of stone rocketed into the air. But instead of simply erupting as the first boulder had, the stone burst into flame. Each pebble, each rock, each hunk of stone was consumed in a cage of fire and charred until it no longer held solid form, flittering on the wind into nothingness.

The attack was exacted in mere seconds. On the cusp of the attack's finish a shockwave gathered and rumbled forth, rocking the girls to the ground as the boulder was utterly obliterated.

They covered their eyes and stayed close to the ground, strands of colored hair flapping wildly in the wind. Slowly it began to fade, the sensation of being blown away gradually disappearing as the ground below them felt safe again.

Rei ran her hands through her hair, moving the erratic strands that disrupted her view. Her mouth fell open.

"H…Holy shit," she mumbled in astonishment.

All that was left of the boulder, and about a half mile radius around it, was a deep black chasm of ash.

Ami swallowed and turned to Rei after viewing the sheer destructive magnitude of her friend's power. Was this something she could do on the spot? Were they really this astoundingly powerful? Ami hoped not.

"How do you feel?" she asked gently, trying to keep the small tremble that she felt throughout her body from appearing in her voice.

"I feel…" Rei's breath became labored. She thought she was hyperventilating because of being disturbed by her new and remarkable power. "I feel…" She tried to keep her body up on her propped arms but failed, her entire form sinking to the dirt.

Her friends rushed to her, Minako putting one arm over her shoulder as Makoto did the same with the other arm. A fine sheen of sweat coated her body as they supported her. Ami pressed two fingers to Rei's neck.

"Her pulse is too fast," she said, looking Rei in the eyes. This was a difficult task, however, because Rei's eyes were slowly closing.

"Stay awake Rei," she could hear Ami saying.

But her eyes were too heavy.

"_Stay with me Rei."_

But she'd already gone away.

* * *

Orihime walked down the sidewalk with Sado. They traveled in silence, something Orihime wasn't unused to when spending time with the quiet giant beside her. She looked up at him for a moment, not able to make eye contact with the orbs obstructed by his long hair.

"What is it?" Sado asked, able to feel her gaze.

Orihime looked back down to the ground in thought. The girls had missed quite a few days of school due to their "power comas" and the extra time they'd spent trying to gain control over their abilities. That being said they'd missed the appearance of the new student Shinji Hirako, who, as they had just found out, is anything but just a student.

When she remained silent, Sado asked her another question. "Are you scared of them?" he asked, referring to the two strangers that had just run away from them: Shinji Hirako and Hiyori Sarugaki.

Orihime shook her head. "You were right," she admitted, referring to when Sado prevented her from running after them, "they are way more powerful than we are. But there's something they want from Kurosaki-kun."

"He won't tell us," Sado said.

Orihime sighed. "I know," she agreed, "but that doesn't mean that—"

Both teenagers were suddenly hit with an extreme and extensive level of reiatsu. Orihime's eyes bulged in shock and Sado put his arms out to help balance himself from the sudden pressure that weighed them down.

"Who's reiatsu could that be?!" Sado asked, turning towards the park wide eyed, where he could feel the power emanating from.

Orihime shook her head. "I don't know," she admitted, an iota of fear creeping up her spine at the immense power. She could see a crowd gathering far off into the distance. "But we've got to save those people!"

Sado nodded and the two took off in the direction of the crowd.

* * *

"_This is district 12!"_

"_We have an emergency in Karakura Town!"_

"_Two Arrancar have appeared in the east!"_

"_Judging by their reiatsu, they seem to be complete…!"_


End file.
